Summary
Made in Heaven manages to make the idea of wedding planning entertaining and laced with drama, in an easy-to-watch series led by interesting characters.
I’ve always wanted to attend an Indian wedding. Every TV and film depiction make each one look like one week of extravagance before the couple dance it out and tie the knot. Let’s be honest; traditional English weddings are so dull and boring unless you manage to spark a pre-determined wedding dance that’s destined to go viral on YouTube. Amazon Prime’s Made in Heaven Season 1 is about two entrepreneurial wedding planners in India, and it’s much better than it sounds.
Made in Heaven has more meaning than planning a wedding. The two wedding planners, Tara Khanna (Sobhita Dhulipala) and Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur) are characters that have their problems in the background. Amongst the chaos of family rivalry and ensuring that the “big” day goes ahead, they have their issues to deal with. The Prime series is surprisingly laced with narrative points, with each episode serving a different wedding.
The weddings they plan are always basked in drama waiting to implode with slight family interference. There is always an issue that needs to be fixed that goes beyond the duties of a wedding planner, but as episode one teaches us, their business desperately needs money, and Karan has deep money problems. Made in Heaven isn’t just about weddings.
The scenarios presented to the audience are designed to entertain, as they are usually small problems; like is the bride a gold digger? Does the family approve in the marriage? In the second episode, the bride gets sexually acquainted with a famous singer who the husband hired on their wedding week. Made in Heaven presents a lot of privileged wedding problems.
By my description, you are probably wondering if Made in Heaven makes a mockery of marriage. It depends on how you feel on the subject. Some cultures take the sanctity of marriage seriously, and the Amazon series is rooted by the notion that you have to get married; it’s not if, it’s when. For instance, the culture is defined when a mother heckles her daughter for trying to become intellectual – “men do not need a smart girl” is the remark she receives. Personally, as someone who does not entertain any form of this suppressed culture in this way, I see this ideology as nonsense.
Each episode of Made in Heaven is carefully written to provide a central plot in regards to the wedding they are planning but also manages to continue the central characters’ daily issues. The series also benefits by being easy to watch – the stories are not deeply layered or tiring to watch – Made in Heaven has a flow where it’s suitably smooth to binge.
If you have time, then Made in Heaven is a worthwhile effort; if you like the idea of stories about pre-marriage problems, then you will enjoy the drama.
