“I don’t understand why people view arranged marriages with a negative mindset, and honestly, our marriage can also be called a love marriage. The 30-year-old said he met his wife on a matrimonial site, fell in love and married her in a matter of ”few months”. While ”Indian Matchmaking” does hold up a mirror to the regressive traditions associated with arranged marriages (without calling them out), others who went that way to find a life partner also feel the idea has evolved over time.įor many men, the focus has shifted from wanting a wife like ”my mother” to desiring a partner who is an equal socially and financially.ĭelhi-based business consultant Mudit Varshney got married last month. They got married within 10 months of meeting but not before falling in love with each other. So, Singh met and interacted with at least 10 men, some for even a few months, before zeroing in on Aditya Fogat, now her husband.

Her parents were keen on the caste factor but soon gave in to what she wanted. Singh, who works at a government regulatory organisation, had one non-negotiable condition. It’s true that when you start living with each other, you fall in love deeply but there has to be some spark, attraction, chemistry and compatibility in terms of understanding each other to move ahead,” said Pratibha Singh, a 28-year-old who went along with an arranged marriage. ”It is very important to fall in love, otherwise there is no meaning of a relationship. While some feel that matchmaking is losing its charm - of meeting in person and visiting each other’s homes - others say that Covid-19 has made people more open and outgoing.Alia Bhatt’s BTS pictures from ‘Heart of Stone’ final day shoot surface on social media Here’s a look Apart from a dip in business, matchmakers are also seeing a change in the approach towards arranged marriages. HYDERABAD: The pandemic has not only changed how weddings are celebrated but also the way matchmakers function. We get to show our work in a better way and Hyderabadis are looking at weddings differently,” he says. “I don’t know how far it has changed for matchmakers, but the wedding event industry is growing. On the other hand Piyush Agarwal, the founder of Evento Entertainments and who has been in the events industry for seven years now, says the pandemic has brought him good business. Ever since the pandemic, matchmakers now have more time to research about the family,” she says. The traditional formula of matchmaking is to first match the horoscope. Love marriages and online portals have changed the game. They don’t look at these people as people, but prospective business. When profiles reach a matchmaker, the latter calls it a Rs 1 core or a Rs 5 crore file.

“We should understand that this is an age-old tradition. Seema has changed the entire perspective of those who are in this business,” says Rakhi. It used to be a typical commissionable service, wherein a matchmaker introduces two families, sets them up and gets out of the scene. “Matchmakers were never so visible until Seema Taparia came into the limelight. However, Rakhi Kankaria, the founder of Rachanautsov Wedding, feels that Indian Matchmaking, which was nominated for the Emmy’s this year, has helped many like her get good opportunities during the pandemic. Matchmaking is losing its charm,” she says. Even if we go on a house visit, only four of us visit. They do not want to risk traveling during a pandemic. Men living abroad, who want to marry women living in India, are finding it extremely difficult to meet. People prefer to go through profiles online and not meet in person. “Earlier, we used to get a good number of clients. Konala Bhagya Lakshmi Reddy, who runs Sri Sobhagya Marriage Bureau, is disappointed with the way her business is going. Matchmakers in the city speak to CE about how the pandemic has affected the business and the changes happening in the industry. Having worked with numerous families over the past year-and-a-half, we have had to work around multiple solutions to ensure everyone’s interests and priorities are taken care of,” celebrity matchmaker Seema Taparia, who shot to fame with popular Netflix show Indian Matchmaking, had said during her recent visit to Hyderabad. “It is interesting to see how people across the world have adapted to the effects of the pandemic when it comes to weddings India is no different.

Arranged marriage matchmaker