Scene stealing comes easy to Indian Matchmaking’s Sima Taparia. “I’m Sima Taparia. I’m Mumbai’s top matchmaker,” the sprightly woman says, within the first few seconds of the show. Every single line uttered by her on the Netflix show is now a meme... and Sima seems to be loving all the attention. “My phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” Taparia said on her newly created Instagram profile. Now that Taparia’s fame has gone far beyond being the “top matchmaker” of Mumbai, many fans want to know exactly how she gained her popularity.
For those who have yet to familiarize themselves with Netflix’s newest reality dating phenomenon, Indian Matchmaking, the dating reality show features Sima Taparia catching flights to meet her clients. These clients are scattered far and wide across India and the USA. Using charm (and expert matchmaking skills), she introduces viewers to the concept of arranged marriage in India. A largely orthodox tradition is made to look cooler, as eligible Millennials choose to swipe left on dating apps and go for marriage “biodatas” instead.
Indian Matchmaking showcases a mix of different personalities. For example, there is the playful Guyanese-American with Indian origins, Nadia Jagessar, and an attorney who hates her job, Aparna Shewakramani. These singletons come with a list of preferred traits they'd like to see in their Indian Matchmaking partners. Their families have preferences, too. Many of the show's single cast members are looking for partners who fit the “slim, trim, and flexible” mold. Those quoted words are a part of almost every conversation with Taparia on the show. Taparia, never short of options, whips out the profiles as if by magic. Then, she recommends matches that somehow fit that detailed criteria. Given the expertise that Sima Taparia has displayed on the show, Indian Matchmaking fans have a lot of questions about her offbeat career and its myriad ways.
Originally hailing from a small city called Gulbarga in Karnataka, India, Sima Taparia, née Lahoti, had an arranged marriage of her own at the tender age of 19. Her husband, another fan favorite from Indian Matchmaking, is Mumbai-based industrialist, Anup Taparia. He has business interests in magnets, textiles, pharmaceuticals, and exports. Taparia, on her website Suitable Rishta, talks about how she had a passion for maintaining and recalling relationships since childhood. Since both the Taparia and Lahoti families were large and well connected, she began setting high-profile Indian couples up for marriage as a hobby, until she became so good at it that people suggested she do it professionally. “I am an extrovert and so I am very social and I love meeting new people, talking to them and finding out little details that I lock away in my brain,” said the 57-year-old in an interview with CNT.
She revealed that when clients come to her, saying they have a son, daughter, niece, nephew, or grandchild looking to get married, she instantly has a list of good matches running in her mind. Taparia took to Instagram to connect with her fans on IGTV. She spoke about setting up two matches during the coronavirus lockdown! She’s found matches for people while on a trip to the Canadian Rockies and in Interlaken. She even plays Cupid while waiting for her luggage to arrive at the airport.
Talking about her competitors Tinder, Bumble and Shaadi.com, and how they can’t even compete with her prowess, Taparia says, “I get to the bottom of things, finding out all the inside stories, the family’s values and other such details you would never get from looking at a person’s online profile.” The homemaker works out of her apartment in Worli, Mumbai, and shockingly claims to have never advertised her services anywhere. “All my clients come from people I have met socially or from other satisfied clients,” adds the Indian Matchmaking celeb.
Taparia also disclosed how her customized fee structure works in the interview. She revealed how she only works with high-profile clients who usually have a working wedding budget in mind. “So based on that golden number, I quote my price that I charge as a lump sum,” says Taparia. She is slightly solving the mystery of how much she gets paid per match. The matchmaker was first seen on-screen in A Suitable Girl, directed by Smriti Mundhra who’s also the creator of Indian Matchmaking. Since she's now a household name across India, Sima Taparia can only expect more business to come her way, because what's a better advertising platform than Netflix, right?
All episodes of Indian Matchmaking are now available to stream on Netflix.
Source: CNT, Suitable Rishta