{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T02:57:50Z","timestamp":1790045870455,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,2]],"date-time":"2022-09-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1662076800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Sociol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Indian subcontinent is ubiquitous with some social factors such as caste, gender (discrimination), poverty. One particular factor that has taken up the imaginations of the Netflix-watching audience of late is the practice of arranged marriages. A series called <jats:italic>Indian Matchmaking<\/jats:italic> catapulted the notion of arranged marriages into the drawing rooms of both people who are highly aware of the notion (probably having been through it themselves), as well as people who have a very vague idea about it. Nevertheless, it has become a highly talked about television show across the Anglophone world. A little before its release, another English-language reality show, <jats:italic>What the Love! with Karan Johar<\/jats:italic> was released by Netflix. This explores the world of romantic connections with a few chosen people from India. While placing itself on the opposite side of the spectrum when compared to <jats:italic>Indian Matchmaking<\/jats:italic>, in many ways, it lends itself to similar tropes, albeit under a progressive garb. This paper delves into the portrayal of people from India or of Indian origin in the reality shows <jats:italic>Indian Matchmaking<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>What the Love! with Karan Johar<\/jats:italic>. I examine the two shows through the lens of postfeminism and how, while raising several social issues that plague Indian society, both citizens and the diaspora, they inadvertently propagate a certain self-policing and conservatism that people, particularly women, are expected to adhere to.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fsoc.2022.684994","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,2]],"date-time":"2022-09-02T14:20:49Z","timestamp":1662128449000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["A match made in heaven - \u201cIndian matchmaking\u201d in contemporary times"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Debjyoti","family":"Ghosh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1086\/652916","article-title":"Hegemonic developments: The new indian middle class, gendered subalterns, and diasporic returnees in the event of neoliberalism","volume":"36","author":"Bhatt","year":"2010","journal-title":"Signs J. Women Cult. Soc."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1353\/ff.2013.0009","article-title":"For white girls only? Postfeminism and the politics of inclusion","volume":"25","author":"Butler","year":"2013","journal-title":"Feminist Format."},{"key":"B3","volume-title":"Bride and Prejudice","author":"Chaddha","year":"2004"},{"key":"B4","volume-title":"Queer Eye","author":"Collins","year":"2018"},{"key":"B5","volume-title":"Queer Eye for the Straight Guy","author":"Collins","year":"2003"},{"key":"B6","unstructured":"Pitfalls of Divorce Proceedings in India: Perfect Statistics and the Noisy Current of the Ganges2022"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"12","DOI":"10.1525\/ctx.2003.2.3.12","article-title":"Arnold schwarzenegger, ally mcbeal and arranged marriages: globalization on the ground in India","volume":"2","author":"Dern\u00e9","year":"2003","journal-title":"Contexts"},{"key":"B8","first-page":"206","article-title":"\u201cThe scale of diasporic cinema: negotiating national and transnational cultural citizenship,\u201d","volume-title":"Routledge Handbook on Indian Cinema","author":"Desai","year":"2013"},{"key":"B9","volume-title":"India Human Development Survey, 2005. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research distributor.","author":"Desai","year":"2018"},{"key":"B10","first-page":"47","article-title":"\u201cGendered bodies, domestic work and perfect families: new regimes of gender and food in Bengali middle-class lifestyles,\u201d","volume-title":"Being Middle-Class in India: A Way of Life, Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series, 1st Edn.","author":"Donner","year":"2013"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"960","DOI":"10.1080\/14680777.2015.1062991","article-title":"For western girls only?","volume":"15","author":"Dosekun","year":"2015","journal-title":"Feminist Media Stud."},{"key":"B12","volume-title":"F-Rated: Being a Woman Filmmaker in India","author":"Dutta","year":"2019"},{"key":"B13","unstructured":"EzhilarasanK.\n          Films on inter-caste marriages stoke intense political debate in Tamil Nadu."},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"147","DOI":"10.1177\/1367549407075898","article-title":"Postfeminist media culture","volume":"10","author":"Gill","year":"2007","journal-title":"Euro. J. Cult. Stud."},{"key":"B15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.3138\/jcfs.44.2.193","article-title":"Exploring the myth of mixed marriages in India: evidence from a nation-wide survey","volume":"44","author":"Goli","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Comp. Fam. Stud."},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1080\/12259276.2011.11666103","article-title":"'Purani aur nai shaadi:' separation, divorce, and remarriage in the lives of the urban poor in New Delhi","volume":"17","author":"Grover","year":"2011","journal-title":"Asian J. Women's Stud"},{"key":"B17","unstructured":"JhaL.\n          Ten Indian films on the caste system."},{"key":"B18","volume-title":"The Politics of Time and Youth in Brand India: Bargaining With Capital, Diversity and Plurality in South Asia, Reissue Edn.","author":"Kapur","year":"2014"},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"294","DOI":"10.1080\/1070289X.2015.1034133","article-title":"Worlding Miss World, Bangalore, 1996","volume":"23","author":"Mazzarella","year":"2015","journal-title":"Identities"},{"key":"B20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.1080\/1468077042000309937.","article-title":"Post-feminism and popular culture","volume":"4","author":"McRobbie","year":"2004","journal-title":"Feminist Media Stud."},{"key":"B21","volume-title":"The Aftermath of Feminism: Gender, Culture and Social Change","author":"McRobbie","year":"2009"},{"key":"B22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"108","DOI":"10.5040\/9781350221505.ch-005","article-title":"\u201cOffline issues, online lives? The emerging cyberlife of feminist politics in urban India,\u201d","volume-title":"New South Asian Feminisms: Paradoxes and Possibilities","author":"Mitra-Kahn","year":"2012"},{"key":"B23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.1057\/fr.1988.42","article-title":"Under western eyes: feminist scholarship and colonial discourses","volume":"30","author":"Mohanty","year":"1988","journal-title":"Fem. Rev."},{"key":"B24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"499","DOI":"10.1086\/342914","article-title":"\u201cUnder western eyes\u201d revisited: feminist solidarity through anticapitalist struggles","volume":"28","author":"Mohanty","year":"2003","journal-title":"Signs"},{"key":"B25","unstructured":"MukherjeeA.\n            SekherT. V.\n          2017"},{"key":"B26","volume-title":"Indian Matchmaking","author":"Mundhra","year":"2020"},{"key":"B27","unstructured":"MutuaM. W.\n          Savages, Victims, and Saviors: The Metaphor of Human Rights. Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law2001"},{"key":"B28","volume-title":"Monsoon Wedding","author":"Nair","year":"2001"},{"key":"B29","unstructured":"NathanA.\n            RamnathN.\n          In the movies, young love is an uphill climb and the Hindu-Muslim romance even more so."},{"key":"B30","unstructured":"Indian matchmaking: the cast finally Reunites ft. Dolly Singh | Netflix India."},{"key":"B31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.15668\/1807-8214\/artemis.v17n1p3-14","article-title":"Challenges to feminism in 21st century: a south asian perspective, with special focus on India","volume":"17","author":"Pande","year":"2014","journal-title":"Revista \u00c1rtemis"},{"key":"B32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"371","DOI":"10.1080\/10714420490886970","article-title":"Spectacles of gender and globalization: mapping miss world's media event space in the news","volume":"7","author":"Parameswaran","year":"2004","journal-title":"Commun. Rev."},{"key":"B33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.5040\/9781350221505.0005","article-title":"\u201cIntroduction: paradoxes and possibilities,\u201d","volume-title":"New South Asian Feminisms: Paradoxes and Possibilities","author":"Roy","year":"2012"},{"key":"B34","unstructured":"SharmaV."},{"key":"B35","unstructured":"SheThePeopleT. V.\n          Why is marriage a goal? | Sisterhood with Shaili."},{"key":"B36","unstructured":"ShuklaP.\n          Here's why Karan Johar in Netflix's 'what the love' made me go WTF."},{"key":"B37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822390411","volume-title":"Interrogating Postfeminism: Gender and the Politics of Popular Culture (Console-ing Passions) (Illustrated ed.)","author":"Tasker","year":"2007"},{"key":"B38","volume-title":"What the Love! With Karan Johar","author":"Vagal","year":"2020"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Sociology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fsoc.2022.684994\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,2]],"date-time":"2022-09-02T14:21:10Z","timestamp":1662128470000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fsoc.2022.684994\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,2]]},"references-count":38,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fsoc.2022.684994"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fsoc.2022.684994","relation":{},"ISSN":["2297-7775"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2297-7775","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,9,2]]},"article-number":"684994"}}