Made In Heaven

The struggles of life swarm around us. Ready, aim, fire. And they hit. Hard. We tread water, maneuvering through successes, failures, love, lack of love, heartache, pandemics, death. The older we get, the more complicated it gets. When we look at children, we covet that unadulterated glee. We want it back. And through the messiness that is adolescence, we enter into adulthood. Watching life take its shots, we run for cover. Perhaps this is why we are mesmerized by art that mimics the realities of the universe. We have heard that it is pain that helps us to see beauty, and no art can exist without that pain. Certainly, when we come across a vivid painting, or a haunting photograph, we FEEL it. A song can bring us to our knees instantly. Poetry and painted church ceilings are gifts from the Gods.

Enter Zoya Akhtar’s Made In Heaven, a television series that premiered last year on Amazon Video. This week, I urgently messaged a friend that she must watch it. Apparently this was old news, as she is now waiting for season 2. So is my Mom. Upon a close friend’s recommendation -- he stumbled upon it recently -- we are the lucky ones, able to binge this gem now, while staying at home. Another friend who hadn’t watched it either, texted me last night: “Oh I feel so sad for Karan, I’m crying”. Made In Heaven presents us with a wedding planning agency in New Delhi. Most of the series is in English, with some subtitled Hindi. And yes, it shows us just how hard life can be. The gap in India between the rich and poor is vast. Yet emotional and economic hardship does not discriminate against the forms it takes. More specifically though, we see here that the societal guillotine that plagues Delhi’s upper-class is quick and it is swift. No one is immune to issues surrounding familial pressure, sexuality, infidelity, financial loss, prescribed gender roles, and India’s famous double standard. And herein lies the diamond of this series: Raw realities, elements of normalcy in every culture, that we don’t get in mainstream Indian media, we are finally seeing here. This is refreshing modernity at it’s best, in a culture that is known for showcasing modesty that masks reality.

I am only halfway through but find my thoughts turning often to Tara (the incredibly poised Sobhita Dhulipala) and Karan (played by Arjun Mathur, with utter and complete authenticity). Each episode introduces a new couple about to be married -- with unique issues to tackle -- as their wedding is planned by our two main stars and their team, all with their own personal and professional hurdles. The supporting cast is very strong, namely Kalki Koechlin (Faiza), Shashank Arora (Kabir), and Shivani Raghuvanshi ('Jazz' Kaur). With beautiful music by Sagar Desai, interposed with the cinematography of stunning India, Made In Heaven is pure magic. That art, mimicked in the beauty, pain, love and loss, plus the life lessons we learn along the way, certainly has me, wanting more.