There’s a lot of Indian-themed content on the streamers. Much of it aimed at a crossover audience is about weddings and marriages, or the journey to get there. There’s Indian Matchmaking, The Big Day, Wedding Season. You could be forgiven for thinking not much else happens in Indian lives, that they end at the point of marriage.
So, from the outset, the Indian television drama series Made in Heaven, written and directed by prominent film-maker Zoya Akhtar, appears to slot straight into the genre. But, in fact, what it does is subvert it.
The second series of Made in Heaven was released in August, after a long wait for audiences who lapped up the first series’ heady mix of salaciousness and glamour.
The show is set in a wedding planning company catering to the well-heeled of Delhi and beyond: from minor royalty to the newly rich, who are flush with cash and brash confidence. There are actors, politicians, glamorous brides, fabulous locations, weddings dripping with colour and vibrancy, but below the surface the show delves into deeper societal problems plaguing India and the wider Indian diaspora. Series one takes in class issues, social mobility, gender dynamics, family tensions and being gay in India.