Let’s be honest… what are you the most excited for this week? The overdose of red roses, balloons, chocolates and beady-eyed teddy bears in unsightly colours on Valentine’s Day, or the new season of Love is Blind?
Regardless of the debate over how “scripted” reality television truly is, there is an undeniable joy in watching relationship drama unfold on dating and marriage shows. The theatrics and chaos, or even the rare calm, make for compelling viewing — despite the geography and the milieu, there are certain aspects that are universally relatable. Much like the endless stream of dating and relationship reels on Instagram we voluntarily doom scroll our way through, taking in stories of first dates, relationships gone wrong, and all the flags — red, green, and of course, beige.
As a millennial, The Bachelor and its spin off The Bachelorette in hindsight feels like a rather tame introduction to this world. Both shows have been on air for over 20 seasons and counting, and there still is a lot to enjoy about the anticipation of who gets picked finally. The format has been a wildly popular one; so much so that India had its own spinoffs, the most notable being Rakhi Ka Swayamvar where Rakhi Sawant launched a hunt for her groom. Closer home in Tamil Nadu, actor Arya put himself on the marriage market in Enga Veetu Maapillai. I remember the fascination when the show was airing. “Is he actually going to get married to someone he finds on the show?”, many wondered. Spoiler alert: He did not.
More recently, it has been truly fascinating for a reality TV fan like me to revel in the Netflix-ication of this genre. Marriage is still a strong point in their dating shows, especially in their biggest success Love is Blind. Over seven seasons now, we have watched in awe as the speed-dating social experiment takes shape; with participants who are confined in pods coming face-to-face with their chosen ones only when they get engaged. Is this a tricky proposition? Yes. But Love Is Blind seemingly also has a great success rate, with at least 12 couples having gotten married off the show. And not to forget, the drama of the reunion episodes!
A still from Too Hot to Handle
Now in comparison, take the show’s full body cringe-inducing yet wildly entertaining contemporary Too Hot to Handle(THTH). Andrew Garfield recently in an interview, did a great job of explaining why exactly the show makes for great guilty pleasure viewing and hearing that he was a fan felt extremely reassuring. In THTH, Singles who are ready to mingle, congregate at a very aesthetic beachside villa rearing to have fun when they soon realise that they are forbidden from having sex, are encouraged to make genuine, deeper connections and stand to win prize money for the same.
My expectations here are, however, clear. I do not turn to THTH for eloquence, or any sort of commentary on the state of relationships in this day and age (absolutely worrying, if I am to go by this show). Instead, I am assured of stock characters who battle first world inconveniences, and the promise of an eight-hour binge watch that will take my mind off the problems of the world outside their island.
A still from Singles Inferno
On the other end of the sexually aggressive spectrum, is Netflix’s Korean take on dating. Singles Inferno is as vanilla as it gets, with a panel of five celebrity commentators who gasp when the contestants even attempt to hold hands. Both Singles Inferno and Too Hot To Handle are united however in their largely lacking-in-diversity participant base.
Despite shows like the ominiously named The Ultimatum, it is truly a reflection of the times when more shows choose to move away from marriage and focus on what seems to be currently plaguing the dating world; the inability to form strong connections, being unable to strike any common ground, and missing communication.
Sima Taparia in a still from Indian Matchmaking
Amidst struggling to come to terms with the many, many terms that define modern dating culture that manifests itself mostly through the big bad world of dating apps, the success of Indian Matchmaking and how it put high-profile arranged marriages under the spotlight feels like a case study of sorts. What did we actually enjoy — matchmaker Sima Taparia’s quirks, or the couples themselves comically struggling and showing us how hard it is to even get through the cardinal first step of a good conversation? I still can’t forget the chicken farm discourse.
Sima aunty might truly believe that one simply can’t be ‘so much picky’, but if people being picky is going to give me three extra seasons of dating and relationship chaos which I’m going to curl up and watch in morbid fascination, then the stars truly have aligned. Relationship growth is great, but the chaos is most compelling.
From The Hindu cinema team, a fortnightly column recommending films and shows tied to a mood, theme, or pop-cultural event.
Published – February 11, 2025 03:43 pm IST
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