"Made in Heaven": An Indian WIll and Grace Work as Wedding Planners

 I had to review the Indian series Made in Heaven, on Amazon Prime, because it reputedly stars two wedding planners -- a straight woman and a gay man.  How gay can you be on Indian tv?  This is the country that invalidated its sodomy law, then re-validated it two years later. But I'll try Episode 1: "All that Glitters IS Gold"

Scene 1: Tara, sitting on a couch, does her makeup and checks her watch.  Finally she goes to the office where Karan (Arjun Mathur, left) is putting on a leather jacket.  "Wear a blazer!" she orders.  They rush through a busy office, pick up posters (saying "Made in Heaven" in English), and hope that Harmony "fucks up" so they get the job.  Wow, they have a huge staff.  I thought wedding planners worked alone.

Scene 2: An extremely opulent room anchored by a giant chandelier and a fountain.  Baldev (Gaurav Dwivedi) and his partner from Harmony are trying to convince the stern Roshans, parents of the groom,  to hire them: "An opulent, blue-blood wedding.  Like the Rajas."  But they refuse to do a background check to determine if the girl is a gold-digger.  Karan and Tara have no objection.  Is this a comedy or a drama?  I can never tell with Indian tv.

Scene 3:  Karan asleep (shoulder shot only).  He is awakened by some goons hired by loan shark Jauhari, asking for payment. He talks them into two more days.  Meanwhile, Tara is at breakfast in an even more opulent mansion, with her parents and Adil (Jim Sarbh), her brother or husband.  Mom wonders why she works, when she's super-rich. 

Dad tells her that the Roshans are "not straight shooters.  Don't trust them."

Scene 4: Karam and Tara at a restaurant, meeting with the detective they hired to do a background check on the bride.  Her parents are divorced; Dad lives in Sweden, and Mom works in publishing.  She had a boyfriend, but he moved to America.  Otherwise she's clean.

Scene 5: Angad (Pavail Gulati), the groom,  Aliya, the bride,  and six other male-female couples practicing the elaborate dance that they will perform at the sangheet, the big pre-wedding party.  Then they are interviewed:  they met when Aliya was writing an article on "business heirs" (that's one way to meet men)

Watching, Tara flashes back on how she met Adil (her husband, I assume) in the same way: she went to work as his secretary, #3 (the previous two were bimbos, and swiftly fired).   

Scene 6: A fancy party.  Tara insults the waitstaff and cooks, until Karam pulls her aside.  Then she yells at him for taking money out of the company to pay his debts.  That's embezzlement, dude.  She promises to "work something out," and he leaves: "I have plans."  Obviously not a romantic couple, but I'm still waiting for explicit, canonical gayness.  

Scene 7: Karam at a nightclub, with a female performer singing "Somebody to Love" in Hindi.  He looks around for his date, and finally finds Utsav (Anhad Singh)!  You're getting close, but there is still deniability.  Heterosexuals will say "He could be meeting a friend." 

Scene 8:  Back at Karam's apartment. Utsav: "Nice pad!"  Not much deniability left, but still, I can hear heterosexuals yelling: "Inviting a friend home doesn't make you gay.  Straight guys do that all the time."

They stand six feet apart and stare at each other.  Utsav gradually approaches.  A weirtd kiss, where Karam backs away, goes forward, then backs away and goes forward again.  But it's definitely a kiss!  More than "Will and Grace" ever did.  

Scene 9:  Morning.  They're in bed together (top photo), Karam staring into space.  Don't tell me that he feels guilty!  Back in the 1980s, sex partners often assumed that I would feel guilt and shame the morning after, which I found ridiculous.  

There's a knock on the door.  It's the landlord, Mr. Gupta, bragging that he bought a new car, and shoving food into Karam's mouth.  Weird!  He must be a creepy old guy who wants to get with Karam.  

Back in the bedroom, Karam announces that he's late for work, so they have to go,  and the coast is clear -- no one will see them leave.  Except Mrs. Gupta happens to be looking out the window, and sees them! "Another guest?" she asks, suspicious.  Mr. Gupta counters that he comes from a good family and pays the rent on time, so what's the problem.  "You have a grown-up daughter!" she exclaims.  So she thinks that because Karam is gay, he'll be hitting on the girl?  

Scene 10:  Tara, her husband Adil, and her friend Faiza lounging by the pool (nice body shot).  Tara and Faiza discuss how hot Adil is.  Meanwhile the older women play cards and discuss their disapproval, and Karan and the dudes play video games. Hey, if this is the same day, he lied to his hookup!  One of the dudes criticizes him for losing money on a business venture.  Another notices that he has a loan shark's goons after him.  

Scene 11: Karam talking to his Dad (Satyajit Sharma) about the Roshan wedding planning gig.  He's impressed -- the Roshans are super-rich. Everyone here is rich.  "But how much profit will you make, after paying for your fancy office?  And you've failed business ventures before. I've loaned you so much money, and you keep missing the repayments."  

Dinner with Mom, Dad, Karam, and his much more successful brother (Neel Madhav, who hosts a program on Magic Criminology on BBC).  Plus brother's wife, of course.  They move on from criticizing Karam's business ventures to "why aren't you married yet?"  

Later, Karam looks through an old photo album and flashes back to boarding school, when the young Karam (Saket Sharma, who was featured in Gay Times in 2019) discovers that his teammate, Nawab (Shawa Kinjawadekar), is into him.   Nice shirtless shot in the locker room.

Scene 12:  The detective that Karam and Tara hired to investigate the Roshan bride returns with more intel: she had an abortion!  "That floozy!" the groom's Mom exclaims.  "That gold-digging wastrel!  We must tell our son, so he can dump her!"

Scene 13:  Back at the office, a new, bubbly assistant annoys everyone.  Meanwhile, the groom is getting his eyebrows and feet done, while his friend reads a magazine and complains about how long this is taking.  Tara and Karam approach and give him a heads-up: "Your parents know about the abortion, and are on a rampage!"   

Scene 14: The Groom confronts his parents.  "Why did you go behind my back, and investigate the bride?"  Dad: "It's for your own good.  You can have fun with whoever you want, but the girl you marry must be a virgin!"  Hey, that's a double standard.   

It's time for the sangheet, the big party that comes before the wedding.  The wedding planners have set everything up -- but Mom and Dad send them away!

The Groom lies and says he is the one who got the Bride pregnant: she has never been with another man. "Ok, then, that's fine."  The sangheet is back on.  Except now the Bride is upset over the background investigation.  They argue during the elaborate dance.  Then she storms off, yelling "Fuck you, and fuck your family!"

Scene 15: Karam and Tara complaining: "This wedding can't get cancelled!  We need the money!"  Didn't you ask for payment in advance, or at least a deposit?   Cut to Tara and her husband Adil in bed (nice chest shot).  They kiss.  Weird kiss --- he sticks out his tongue and aims it toward her mouth like an airplane heading into a hangar.  But just as they're getting down, Mom calls, so Tara has to rush out.

Scene 16: The wedding guests are starting to arrive.  Everyone gets a golden miniature motorcycle in a glass case.  Imagine lugging that thing around for the next three hours!   Except the Groom has disowned his family and relinquished their money -- if I calculated correctly, they're worth $612 million!  So of course the wedding they paid for is off.  Tara and Karam try to talk them into reconciling because...$612 million!  

Scene 17: The traditional Hindu wedding, with everyone gossiping: "Is she marrying him for love or money?"  The narrator: "All they can see is an outsider clawing her way to becoming an insider.  Will they ever accept her?  Welcome to Delhi." 

Scene 18: After the wedding, Karam hands over the money he owes to the loan shark, then has another hookup, with another "I have to work early, so..."; the overly-perky office assistant dreams about landing Karam; the landlords in Karam's building have installed a new security system, so they can observe his "male friends" more easily; and Tara's husband is having an affair!

My Grade: A-.