People who are offended by Indian Matchmaking prove its point

CNN

"Despite trending on every social platform and the streaming service all week, the series has been criticized for perpetuating harmful stereotypes, colorism, sexism, elitism, heteronormativity, the caste system and the shallow, transactional nature of Indians looking for a life partner," says S. Mitra Kalita of the Netflix reality show. "I'm ready to wade into the debate. (Hang on, muting my mentions on Twitter...) As someone who has spent her whole life as an Indian, much of her career chronicling the country and its diaspora, and written two books on global Indians, I think the criticism is misplaced. (Matchmaker) Sima Auntie is not the problem. We are the problem. I fear that the art of nuance and subtlety has been lost on critics. They want a deeper discussion of the rampant colorism on display here (the word 'fair' to refer to skin tone is used over and over, without second thought.). They want acknowledgment of entrenched and intentional endogamy that maintains Indian power structures, rooted in caste and wealth. They want mothers and mothers-in-law to stop meddling and enforcing impossible-to-meet standards. But this is us. The critics are not wrong but their target is. That the show was filmed before George Floyd died but released after makes this reality even more poignant." ALSO: The viral Indian Matchmaking controversy helps Netflix in its battle to sign up viewers in India.