The Great Indian Marriage Bazaar

Director Ruchika Muchhala will appear in person

Every aspect of the India’s social, commercial and cultural fabric revolves around the axis of marriage: Bollywood movies usually end in a festive marriage scene, beauty products are advertised for an end-goal of looking beautiful at one’s wedding and children are inculcated at a young age that the most important event in their lives will be their marriage. “The Great Indian Arranged Marriage Bazaar” is a fascinating journey into the nucleus of Indian society: the marriage, arranged style.

The film is told through the Directors’ perspective as Ruchika faces mounting pressure to get married and moreover, to get an arranged marriage. As her persistent mother goes full forth in this quirky and raw journey that her aunts’ dub as ‘mission-son-in-law’, Ruchika navigates through the ‘marriage bazaar’ by talking with people in the business and two brides-to-be in Mumbai.

Interviews with the online matrimonial websites, private detective agencies, cosmetic surgeons who perform a surgery called hymenoplasty, and a female psycho-therapist are intertwined with the stories of two brides-to-be – Sonali, a police woman from a working class family who is searching for a partner who is willing to become a part of her family, rather than the other way around; and Preeti, a middle-class family-oriented girl believes that marriage is defined by the joining of two families from within her specific ethnic community. Through these stories, the film looks at the modern-day crisis urban Indian women face when thrown into the great ‘marriage bazaar’.

• Script and director: Ruchika Muchhala • Singapore 2010 • 63 Min. • Hindi with English subtitles, English