The series follows Sima Taparia, a successful matchmaker in India. The series follows various clients of Sima’s as they go through the arranged matchmaking process — from sharing their preferences and criteria to meeting families and going on dates.
The series in its first Season started conversations about arranged marriage and dating with criteria, and even provided a jumping off point for talking about caste and bias within the South Asian community.
In its new season, the show shows no effort to build clientele to include people of different backgrounds, choosing instead to recycle similar storylines to the first season to be safe.
The new additions to the list are Viral, Akshay, Arshneel and Shital while the first season alums – Pradhyuman, Nadia, Shekhar – return.
The only new angle that the new season offers is a woman in her late 30s named Shital, who the show puts past “marriageable age” as per the traditional Indian aunties, looking for love later in life. Her experiences feel fresh and prompt conversation about ageism in the desi culture.
Sima seems to have had a vocab improvement. The ‘compromise’ has been replaced by the word “patience’. However, she is still impatient with women who have expectations for their partners.
Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra for some reason are targets of Sima Aunty’s astrology speculations. At one point she announces that even if she were arranging a match for Nick Jonas and he had a business in Nasik, Priyanka would refuse to move to Nasik to a chicken factory.
The Bay area astrologer is replaced this Season by a face reader from Mumbai. Some progress.
Season 2 also brings back three figures from Season 1 — none of whom are still using Sima’s services at the moment but were interest arousers in Season 1.
They all bring relatively similar lists of requirements, seeking partners with strong family values, a suitable balance of career ambition and interest in parenthood, and connection to their cultural roots. Sima dispenses virtually identical advice to all of them. “Compromise. Adjust. Be patient. Expect around 50% to 60% of your list to be possible.”
Okay Sima Aunty – I needed a 6ft guy but if you want me to shave off 60% – I’ll take a 2ft guy – thats fine.
From Akshay, an engineer based in a small town near Mumbai, to a practical, independent Viral, who works in the pharmaceutical industry, to Arshneel, a cardiologist cautious about how women will react to dating a Sikh man with a turban- Sima doesn’t have the success to meet their expectations.
The stories are disjointed and the returning alumni just add the rinse repeat value to the Season. Wonder what Aparna was doing in the Season at all- since she seems to be competing with Sima Aunty in matchmaking her rejects.
The only thing apparent in this story is that -Sima is not such a huge success as a matchmaker.
So, while Season 1 was a crazy, cookie and weirdly funny in its perspective of Sima Aunty arranged marriages in contemporary times, we dont feel that it warranted a Season 2.
