Indian Matchmaking: Netflix original mirrors India’s prickly wedding culture

The contentious and orthodox ways of India’s wedding and arranged marriage culture has been showcased in a new Netflix reality series which has spurred debate online about the show.

Featuring real-life Mumbai-based matchmaker Sima Taparia, the eight-part series titled Indian Matchmaking has surged to the top-ranked shows in India ever since it premiered on the streaming website last week.

However, while many see the show as a light-hearted showcase of how one of India’s age-old traditions of matchmaking is getting presented with a modern twist for the millennial generation, numerous are critical of the problematic aspects of the show like laying emphasis on discriminatory factors in terms of age, caste, height, skin colour or financial status.

As the debate sparked online with the constant upsurge of the show’s popularity, many started joining the discussion to present their viewpoint.

Twitter user Maunika Gowardhan wrote: “[The show] makes very clear how regressive Indian communities can be. Where sexism, casteism, and classism are a prevalent part of the process of finding a life partner.”

Others argued how the series was reflective of some of the South Asian’s society’s most problematic aspects.

Indian Matchmaking, created by Oscar-nominated director Smirti Mundha, shows Taparia visiting families in India or abroad who seek her assistance in finding a suitable partner.