It's a Match: Arranged Nuptials on Indian TV

MUMBAI -- In a two-minute video clip televised here last month, 29-year-old Amit Daruka and his doting parents listed the attributes of the ideal bride for him -- she must be tall, fair-skinned and respectful of her elders, share Daruka's ethnicity and horoscope, and be ready to work in the family's garment business.

The video also showed Daruka enjoying a meal at home with his parents, praying with his mother, driving his Honda to work and out clubbing with friends. The program's hosts then chatted with the family in the studio and urged interested viewers to send a text message.

Welcome to the latest wrinkle in India's age-old tradition of arranged marriage.

News of eligible prospects is no longer brought by helpful priests or family aunts. In the past couple of decades, as Indian communities fragmented and families scattered, people looking to marry had already begun using other means, such as classified newspaper ads, marriage bureaus and the Internet. Now, India's booming television industry wants to play matchmaker, expanding the universe of arranged marriage with three wedding reality shows.

"My parents have been looking for a wife for me for the past four years. We have tried every other medium, but nothing clicked," said Daruka, a businessman and vegetarian who defers to his parents in the search. "Television is a very transparent medium. You can assess compatibility by watching a person's body language, the pitch of her voice and the kind of home she lives in."

Star TV, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, conducted audience research that it says revealed two major issues vexing Indian families: their sons' education and their daughters' weddings. So the channel, which until recently aired mostly soap operas dominated by family squabbles and intrigue between mothers and their sons' wives, decided to help viewers find mates. Last month, it launched "Star Vivaah," or "Star Weddings," the daily afternoon show on which the Darukas appeared.

"Our program is the YouTube of arranged marriages," said Rasika Tyagi, Star TV's vice president of programming, calling the show "a huge leap forward from four lines in a newspaper classified and a grainy clip on the Internet."

On "Star Vivaah," she said, viewers can see prospective partners' homes, "the view from their balcony, the kitchen, how they dress and live, what car they drive."

Tyagi said it often takes months for families to share photos of their eligible sons and daughters. "We shorten the process and empower them to take decision," she added.

The show's creators decided to feature only engineers, doctors and MBAs in the first few episodes, so viewers would not brand it a platform for losers. But family members are also required to appear along with the prospective brides and grooms.

"The new Indian woman wants to check out what the mother-in-law will be like. She wants to see who takes the decisions, the son or the mother," Tyagi said.

Perhaps the biggest service the show provides is to pose the questions that a young woman and her family are afraid to ask.