Matchmaking show is back with more cringe

Indian Matchmaking Season 2

English (Series/Netflix)

Director: Sima Taparia

Rating: 1/5

“I love chicken. And I have dated quite a few chicks,” says a prospective groom who has signed up for the second season of ‘Indian Matchmaking’.

The cringe continues as “Sima Aunty from Mumbai” picks up where she left off and hooks her elite clients up with other big fish in the marriage market.

“I try my best, the rest is in the hands of uparwala (God),” says Sima Taparia as she shuttles between Mumbai and LA with her conditions and checklist.

The sprightly broker is not alone. She gets “guidance” from her entourage of astrologers and face-readers, who help the participants to wriggle out of unfavourable planetary positions and find their “perfect match”. Janam Kundali scanning, Ganesh Pujas to tide over doshas and obstacles… our jet-setting aunty tries every trick in the Indian matrimonial book.

“Have patience and do a little bit of adjustment” and you are good to go. Also, beware of “huge” age gaps. Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are not a good match because she looks “older”. Duh, we get it.

The show has a few participants from the last season who hope to walk down the aisle this time. Yawn, most haven’t crawled out of the dating zone yet. Then there are the fresh ones – a cardiologist, an entrepreneur, a finance professional – who are overwhelming their “favourite aunty” with so many “criterias”.

Taparia insists that a “60-70%” match is the maximum one can expect, but her “self-made” Gujarati client (“with Indian values”, of course) argues that she isn’t asking for anything that she doesn’t bring to the table already.

The initial episodes have some novelty but the show gets jaded and repetitive as it navigates between the hits and misses of Akshay, Arshneel, Aparna, Viral, Nadia, etc.

And that’s how traditional matchmaking is – every time you find a match, your parents get the notification. How about hitting mute?