Misogynistic, problematic, toxic, orthodox – yes the show still is all of that but there is something so relatable and naive that makes you watch “just one more episode” of Indian Matchmaking. As I dozed off watching the third episode last night, I promised myself that I wasn’t interested in this shit show, quite literally but the moment you start watching it again – it’s hard to stop. it’s made as one of those addictive one-night binge shows and more than is a really common topic of discussion. Having met someone for dinner last night who had already started watching the show I felt the need to keep up with the trend. On a more serious note though, this show makes me feel disgusted. What is going on in the show? This is what midreprsenataions look like – why is something like this being produced for the mass? It is going to make things worse for our generation.

The word compromise is the most used word in the show I would say – “if you get a 60% match then that is enough”! Promoting compromise is just sad, and the only successful new match in the show who came through was Arti – who eventually let go of Sima Taparia and found her fiance on a dating app. This girl was gaslighting herself into thinking that what she was looking for was a lot when really it wasn’t and eventually realized that and stood up for herself. My favorite dialogue from the series was by Arti itself saying “Well Sima Aunty… I mean she is an aunty” and that sums it all. This time around, it wasn’t fun or interesting for good reasons rather the reason I continued to watch it was the thought that how are these well-educated, strong, young, independent girls gaslit into thinking that they’re not good enough just because they don’t have a partner.

I personally believe that this show should come with a lot of trigger warnings – from height, weight, what languages you speak and your caste it is all judged, it feels like a score you’re being given and then told to not aim too high because your’e not worth it. Who is a matchmaker to tell me my worth and why are these people still giving in to one another and their absurd demands? Unfortunately, this has turned into a rant and I’m hoping that you can relate because you most likely have seen the show and if you haven’t then please don’t waste your time trying to lose a few brain cells in attempting to understand or even empathise with these women who are being pushed down and bullied. The producers of the show need to realize that just to show an ABCD (American-born confused desi) is cultured they want an arranged marriage. What is this constant connection to marriage and culture now between the west and east?

They also introduce Priya from the UK and explore this country further and you’re just too enagged for your own good rattling between New Delhi, Mumbai, Miami, North Carolina, London and all the rest. There was no closure about the older characters except for Viral which is the only one it worked out for? So what did Sima Aunty just fail? Why is the show conituing then. Personally I am a little embarassed that they take something like this to show the world when India has so much more. Why would someone ever choose to glorify the worst things about themseleves and not celebrate the rich cultural history? The reason that the west has such an image of India is perhaps because that is what we choose to show them. The entire series felt fake, the shots felt like a bad copy of a bollywood movie and it was unrealistic and yet ‘romantic’ but to be honest, just a big bunch of cringe if you put yourself in thier shoes. Please go around and do better things with your time – this series is just gonna make you feel shittier about yourself and eveyrone and everything around so it’s not worth it. It’s not cool to enjoy someone else’s misery and I wish that I hadn’t continued beyond the third epsiode. The first two seasons atleast had some story line – this was just a big fat ugly mess. I could go on and on about this but I think this was enough – especialy with Sima aunty never finding a perfect client like dude shut up telling your clients to not look for perfect when you are only critcsing them and making their families work for you when you come home (and then casually joking about giving them orders) and sitting with your hideous golden backdrop, I’ve just had enough of it.