I was not going watch this show. However, some of my coworkers and friends were talking about it so I had to be in the loop. This Netflix show had a 67% match for me, so it isn’t something that I usually watch – basically not kdrama or anime. I would’ve expected the percentage match to be a bit higher since I have watched a bunch of dating reality TV shows, but oh well.
This show follows a few different Indian singles and their families and their experiences navigating marriage. They have various interactions with Sima Aunty, the top matchmaker in Mumbai. Through Sima Aunty’s guidance and expertise, the singles learn life lessons and gain opportunities to meet with potential marriage partners.
I really liked the show. There are 8 episodes per season and I finished watching the show in 2 days. Sima Aunty is a great person and the fact that she consults astrologists, face readers, and life coaches for insight on people was pretty interesting. These people were surprisingly accurate with their assessments of the featured singles on the show, which make me curious about how that is possible. Like one astrologist mentioned that one of the people’s past of a canceled engagement was ruining his chances at love and it turns out that he actually did have that experience in his past 🤯. Thankfully, all people need to do to fix these curses are poojas, which seems to be some sort of prayer ceremony.
The featured girls were all quite high achieving and attractive. The featured guys were less high achieving and attractive. But still eligible bachelors. Through my interactions with Indian people and Indian media, I’ve gotten some insight into the culture, but this show helped improve my understanding and appreciation of the culture. Each region of India has different nuances for the people and culture. A lot of thought and planning goes into a marriage, much more than what I’d imagine goes into a traditional Western wedding. Making sure that the families are a good match is pretty important as well.
The editing, the cuts, and the background music were great. Like this show was funnier than I expected. The times where the singles listed out their criteria of their ideal partner was quite funny. The background music also was funny because occasionally the music was a bit ominous, but then it’s just like the guy is meeting up with a girl for a date. Also, the facial reactions of the people were on point as well. Sometimes really expressive and sometimes super not interested. I really enjoyed the segments of the show where arranged couples from previous generations were interviewed about how their marriages were going. Obviously, the producers picked couples that had happy marriages or seemingly happy marriages, but getting their input was a nice touch.
One of my friends who is engaged mentioned that they wanted their partner to be on the show. I didn’t understand why before I watched the show, but I think I understand now. The experience of meeting Sima Aunty is life changing and all the Indian people on the show are portrayed in a really good light. Like nearly every one of the people on the show looked like they were crushing it and were cool and attractive. From an outsider looking in, I would say that my friends are already crushing it and are cool so maybe all they wanted was to meet Sima Aunty and to get some astrological advice.
I would recommend this show to people who like dating shows in general. Definitely a different type of show in general. It has drama and beautiful people that people like to see in these types of shows, but also has a splash of culture makes the show more worthwhile to watch.
Jeffrey's Thoughts 