India Love Project has entered into cooperation with two large magazines – Indian Express and DW (Deutsche Welle). The result is the Love Matters podcast led by actress Evelyn Sharma. The episodes of the podcast are to tell about different faces of love and – according to the official description – to help you navigate the ups and downs of love — with the help of celebrity guests and influencers!

On Independence Day, August 15, the history of Partition is also recalled. The Offical Humans of Bombay profile presents the story of brides separated for 3 months who finally found each other and formed a happy relationship that lasted many years.

A recent survey has found that Indians still consider the appearance of a person when deciding on them while choosing their matrimony profile. Done by Betterhalf.ai, the survey findings state 43 percent of single Indians, out of 286 respondents, consider ‘looks’ as the foremost criteria on a matrimonial profile.

The government of India wants to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. The idea is presented as empowering women, acting for their protection, education opportunities, and also in the name of gender equality. It is supposed to limit the marriage of children and adolescents. A special committee, the Jaya Jaitly committee, was set up which, after examining the data and receiving feedback from 16 universities and 15 NGOs, recommended increasing the age, increasing girls’ access to education, and introducing sex education into schools.

In Telangana, the first wedding of a homosexual couple in this state took place. Love was pledged by Abhay Dange and Supriya Chakraborty. Officially, the ceremony was not legally binding – same-sex marriage is illegal all over India. However, the couple decided to exchange rings with a ‘promising ceremony’. You can find their love story here and here.

The theme of the month (#MoodOfTheMonth) of Feminism in India is Redefining Love. Throughout the month, you can read articles that show different aspects of love. For details, check not only the link below, but also read more here and here. 

The Indian English-language series Decoupled is a sitcom story of a divorcing middle-class couple. The main characters try to end their marriage without hurting their family and friends. The series was accused of reproducing negative stereotypes, sexism, and misogyny. Read more on international media here. For Indian media, check the the link below. 

Another advertising controversy. A screenshot taken from the website of clothing brand ‘Karagiri’, which shows a couple, has been shared with a message that says the brand is promoting ‘love jihad’. The reason for this accusation was the cap on the men’s head – it was assessed as an Islamic cap, however, it turned out to be a Maharashtrian cap.

Modern Love is an American romantic comedy anthology streaming television series based on the weekly column of the same name published in The New York Times. It also has its local variations, and the Indian one has just been released. Modern Love Mumbai consists of six love stories with different themes and issues – from woman empowerment after divorce to homosexual relations.

Seema Chishti, a journalist, in the book Sumitra and Anees: An Indian Marriage – Tales and Recipes from a Khichdi Family tells in this book the story of her parents: Sumitra, a Kshatriya Hindu from Mysore in Karnataka, and Anees, a Syed Muslim from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh. Woven into their story are recipes from Sumitra’s kitchen, representing the diverse culinary traditions. Check also here and here. 

The second season of the Masaba Masaba series which tells the life of Masaba Gupta (played by herself), an enterprising fashion designer, and daughter of Neena Gupta (also played by herself) has just been released. The series begins with the announcement of the divorce of Masaba and her husband, and during both seasons, you can follow the attempts to establish a romantic relationship between the main character, who goes through various stages in her love life – from a desperate search for love to stopping dating at all.

Indian Matchmaking is a Netflix reality show featuring Sima Taparia, a Mumbai-based matchmaker. Its services are used by the heroes and heroines of the show – residents of big cities, mainly in the United States, who are looking for romantic relationships. The second season of the show has just premiered.

The film was even certified by the CBFC, which has been made compulsory for OTT platforms. Yet complaints from Hindutva groups were enough to make Netflix take the movie down.

Maharashtra has set up a panel, named “Intercaste/ Interfaith marriage-family coordination committee (state level)”, to gather detailed information about couples in such marriages, and the maternal families of the women involved if they are estranged. The Eknath Shinde government claims the decision was prompted by the gruesome murder of 27-year-old Shraddha Walkar, allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala in May. Walkar, who hailed from Vasai near Mumbai, was killed in Delhi.

The theme of the month (#MoodOfTheMonth) of Feminism in India in February 2023 is Love in Post Modern India.

As the editors claim: “Love in today’s post-modern and uber-cosmopolitan spaces exists because we have evolved our logic and understanding towards it as we have discarded the notions that power structure thrust on it particularly and essentially in the multicultural and multi-consumerist state of India.” Read also how pandemic caused a shift in intimate relationships and love in arranged marriages. 

In the third season of the reality show “Indian Matchmaking” Sima Taparia, a matchmaker from Mumbai moves to London to support her clients in the search for the perfect candidate for husband and wife.

The Netflix dating show claims that tradition can find love where modernity has failed. But all it does is reinforce age-old prejudices.

Read more in Outlook India, Indian Express and Times of India. 

Pride month (May) was celebrated in many places in India.

The Agents of Ishq platform, promoting sex education has released the AOI Manifesto. It depicts pleasure as a part of political thinking, recognises its political power and finds many paths together towards resilience, joy, acceptance and liberation. As the authors claim: 

“This manifesto is dedicated to all the wonderful artists, activists, thinkers, thirakte comrades, vulnerable sharers and big-hearted co-creators who fight good fights with twinkling eyes.”

The Amazon Prime Video series, created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, follows a pair of wedding organisers and their clients. Tara Khanna (Sobhita Dhulipala), the ambitious wife of businessman Adil Khanna (Jim Sarbh), and Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur), an industrious young man with a bad run at entrepreneurship, are partners in Made in Heaven. The start-up is giving the bigger players in the wedding business a run for their money. The series is set in New Delhi, which offers up particular and peculiar idiosyncrasies and complexities. Season 2 of the series is going to be released in the first half of 2023.

The story of Seema Haider has become a pretext for recalling other stories of women who took risks to meet their loved ones.

20 Years Of ‘Shubho Mahurat’: The Politics Of Love, Gender And Class

India’s top court: rule on same-sex marriage

There once was a time when we loved at first sight, shared letters and met them in person. But today, we may not even see each other for months and still talk to each other. We may not fall in love at first sight but by sharing photos, memes, video calls etc, gradually, we are acquainted with them.