Can there be anything more to say about Indian weddings? Hindi films have ended with happy, ornate weddings forever, and there are dozens of films which are entirely about weddings. A gazillion books have covered “arranged” and “love” marriages in all their forms and variations.
And yet, turns out there is quite a bit more. Indian weddings are superbly picturesque, and this is cleverly used as a backdrop for character stories and social commentary in a new video series streaming now.
Made in Heaven is one of Amazon Prime’s India Originals. Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti are the writers of this 9-episode series set in a very modern Delhi, featuring a very upscale wedding planning business co-owned by Tara Khanna (Sobhita Dhulipala) and Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur).
Each episode features a particular wedding and its complications, but there is a larger story arc across the episodes that holds one’s attention. The business is teetering on the edge between success and failure, and it is a competitive market. Tara seems to have the perfect life, married to the wealthy Adil and living in a gorgeous house, but her backstory is less happy: her husband may be having an affair, and her lower-class background means she is constantly suspected of being a gold-digger. Karan is gay: he is open with his friends, and they are quite comfortable with it, but gay sex is illegal in India, and his parents and landlord don’t know about his sexuality.
There is a delicious irony to his landlady’s discomfort about the male friends Karan brings home. Karan is “from a good family”, but who knows what these other boys are like? After all, they have a teenage daughter to protect!
Virginity, abortion, politics, feudal families, class, dowry, ‘Indian values’ : from the first episode, the series takes on nontrivial social themes. The dialogue is a wonderfully appropriate mix of English, Hindi and Punjabi. Many of the characters talk super-fast, as people do in India.
The beauteous Tara is, I think, meant to be quietly introverted and controlled, but this can come across as rather wooden at times. It’s rather a relief when she cracks the occasional smile. Arjun Mathur is an excellent Karan, a capable, self-confident, but still vulnerable young man.
Vijay Raaz is a scene-stealer, as always, playing the moneylender Jauhari.
It would be a gloomy series if it were all about the darker social issues, but it’s not. There are couples who are deeply in love, some who will risk the wrath of family for their beloved. Perhaps the sweetest of the stories features the charming Deepti Naval with her lovely smile, as an older bride who wistfully longs for her adult children to accept her new relationship.
The most pleasing aspects of the show are the unexpected plot twists. That intimidating moneylender Jauhari? He has a wonderful scene with Adil in a later episode that may change your preconceptions. The self-righteous landlord who spies on Karan? Not quite the reason you might expect. The landlord’s teenage daughter who needs protection? Not all that naïve.
The one annoying note is struck by the videographer Kabir (played by Shashank Arora), who is making a documentary while also putting together the wedding videos. We can chuckle at his self-important consciousness of his own art, and his sneers at Bollywood. But the writers give him even more pretensions; at times he looks into the camera and gives us the Benefit of his Wisdom in ponderous voice-overs.
And as we navigate all the pretenses around us, we are sometimes lucky to stumble on a moment that is perfect. A minute where life is just right, and magic exists.
Why do parents beg, borrow and steal to make sure their daughter is wed in style? This hardship is clearly borne less for the girl and more for the world.
[Kabir]
I wish the writers had let the story and the characters speak for themselves.
There are lots of reasons to watch this series. A distinctly feminist take, still rare these days. Old social issues competing with modern lives and loves. Subtleties of class, language, and style, and the painful hierarchies thereof. Gorgeous people. Lovely houses. Lifestyles of the very rich in Delhi. Or maybe just catch up on the latest in opulent wedding fashion.
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[…] generation has also internalized most of the same prejudices, and the show (unlike, for example, Made in Heaven) is […]