Love it or hate it, you just can’t ignore it. Matchmaker Sima Taparia (“from Mumbai”) has shot into the spotlight with Indian Matchmaking. The Netflix show that explores the mind-boggling world of arranged marriages, has been slammed for its regressiveness, but has proved to be an addictive watch for many. The Telegraph caught up with Taparia on the hows and whys of Indian Matchmaking.

Congratulations for the success of Indian Matchmaking. While making it, did you ever think that the show would grab so many eyeballs, whatever the reasons may be?

Thank you so much! I’m so happy that the show has received a lot of love… I have got so much praise since the show released. To be honest, I was excited to be a part of Smriti’s (Mundhra, the show’s executive producer) project, I did not really think it would become successful.

Has the show upped your demand as a matchmaker?

It has been a month so far and I still believe it’s too soon to say how much the show has affected my work. I’m still as busy as I used to be. I have over 500 loyal clients that I have to continue to keep happy!

How did the show happen?

It has been such a treat working with Smriti… we have known each other for a long time. I really admired the fact that she was able to trust me and showed how I really work, and I also trusted her to show me as I am. I’m very happy with the way the show has come out… no apprehensions at all.

Did you have to do any kind of special prep for the show or were you just being yourself?

Candidates on the show were the ones I was trying to find suitable matches for. The goal was not to focus on “who would make a better story”, but my daily interaction with the clients. While we were filming the show, we asked the candidates that I was looking to find matches for them and would they be okay to be filmed. And the rest is history.

Indian Matchmaking has come in for a fair bit of criticism, which, in turn, has helped it garner more viewers based on curiosity. In hindsight, why do you think the show has become so popular?

Everyone is entitled to an opinion… some may like it, some may not. This is the way my work is and how my clients are. The series also showed some good things that have changed, like how independent girls are now. I’ve got so much love since the show released. Of course some criticism is there also, but that is life.…

Did you have any favourites among those on the show? Most viewers loved Nadia and Vyasar….

That is the most difficult question I have been asked!

I loved all the stories on the show, it’s really hard to pick favourites. For me a client is a client. Travelling (while shooting the show) was great fun. I also socialised in my free time.

Will there be a Season 2?

I hope so. It is up to Netflix to decide...you must ask them!

Aparna Shewakramani Sourced by the Telegraph

On the show, Sima Taparia consistently described one of her clients as “picky, difficult and demanding”. Over a video call from her home in Houston, Aparna Shewakramani, a lawyer by profession on her Indian Matchmaking experience.

What’s it been like over the last month since Indian Matchmaking turned you into an overnight celebrity?

A lot of people were like, ‘Oh my God! We thought we would watch one or two episodes and we ended up watching them all!’ And I was like, ‘Wow! I barely did that!’ (Laughs)

It’s been quite overwhelming. Shekhar (one of the men on the show Aparna explored the prospect of marriage with) is one of my best friends from the show and we talk every day. So every day, after the show first dropped, we went through the same emotions and the same rollercoaster ride together, the excitement and the exhaustion each day, every day. Now, it’s become more ‘normal’, though the intensity is still there. But I think we are getting used to it.

I am doing a whole lot of other projects now, like designing my T-shirt line, while also working my day job as a lawyer. Some thing that has definitely not been happening is sleep!

Did you, at any point, figure that this show would become such a big talking point?

No, not at all. All of us signed up for this thinking it’s a docu series, and not a reality show. It was supposed to be something like the A Suitable Girl documentary that Smriti (Mundhra) did. Honestly, I thought no one would watch it! (Laughs) I was like, ‘Maybe some Indian people in India will watch it, maybe some Indian people in America will watch it’. I thought it was a sweet story about all of us looking for love, which finally turned out to be reality television. I figured that it would be aired everywhere, and that’s something we only found out a week before the show went on air!

I am glad that people are so intrigued by the show, and not just our South Asian community. I have people of every ethnicity and every age messaging me day and night from all over the world, telling me that they are watching the show.

Of course you are looking for love, but you didn’t seem like the type, unlike some others on the show, who would sign up for a show that promised arranged marriage...

I am a hopeless romantic, actually (laughs). I was in the LA airport coming home to Houston and someone on Facebook posted, ‘Are you single? Are you South Asian? Are you looking to get married?’ I said ‘yes’ and I signed up without thinking, in the airport line! I forgot about it, but one week later, they called me and I was like, ‘Okay, this sounds like fun! Let’s do it!’ We were taping by the next year.

For the sake of reality television, your story was made to fit into a template that made you seem difficult to deal with. Did these apprehensions kick in while filming?

Not at all. I am a naturally warm and inviting person... I invited these people into my home and shared hours of my thoughts and musings with them. I didn’t realise then that this is a reality show.

So it was a shock for me when I watched it like that. And I think it’s a real shame, because viewers don’t really get a good picture of me, or of anyone on the show. They were so strict in the archetypes they created that they didn’t really focus on who we actually are.

Pradhyuman (Maloo, one of the clients) wrote a very poignant note today on ‘Humans of Bombay’ about how they cast him and how reality TV cast all of us. That it was convenient for them to create sound bytes and edits that told their story, not our real story.

So what’s the real Aparna like and what kind of a man does she want? I am sure you will be quite okay with someone who doesn’t know that Bolivia has salt flats!

I asked for someone, and what the viewer didn’t get to see, is someone who is laid-back and introverted and intelligent. Those are the only things I told Sima aunty (Taparia) and she kept fighting with me saying, ‘No’. She asked me to speak in Hindi and I figured she doesn’t understand English so well. I spoke to her in English and I figured she didn’t agree with me because she couldn’t understand me! (Laughs) She never understood me. She told me I need someone ‘jolly’. And I was like, ‘I don’t need Santa Claus as my husband!’

Does being on this show make it easier or tougher for you to find love now?

I wouldn’t know right now. Houston has a pretty bad Covid situation and we are under lockdown. I don’t get out much. I haven’t dated since Covid broke out and I am not on any dating apps. And right now, I don’t sleep more than three hours per night. So I am not really sure how I could date someone! (Laughs)

But I do want to meet someone. I was chatting with the rest of the castmates one of these nights and despite the show, we were all laughing that we are all still so single!

Which is your favourite ‘story’ on Indian Matchmaking? Tell t2@abp.in