The global shutdown, pining for physical touch and that irritable self-isolation: as the world was reeling under the unpredictability of Covid-19 back in 2020, Sima Taparia got us all hooked to the South Asian concept of arranged marriages through the show Indian Matchmaking.
Discover our latest podcast
Sima aunty, as she was fondly called in the show, left us all in splits with her funny antics and interesting ways of bringing potential couples together. As she said ‘Sima from Mumbai’; her catchphrase, people roared with laughter and devoured her reality show on Netflix even without batting their eyelashes.
Despite having no success, in terms of her ‘matching’ translating into a wedding, the show returned with a second season on August 10, 2022. So, who is this eccentric persona that’s put the famous Indian arranged marriages on a global map… again!
Sima Taparia aka Sima aunty: the beginning
If it is not evident already, Sima Taparia is an Indian marriage consultant who was born in 1964 in Gulbarga, situated in the Indian state of Karnataka. At the age of 19, Sima got married to a wealthy industrialist Anup Taparia and and the couple has a daughter named Ritu Taparia Bagree. She has been a prime marriage consultant or matchmaker (as some would like to call it) since 2005 as she always wanted to do something of her own but couldn’t because of her 'orthodox in-laws', she told Condé Nast Traveller.
Sima has her own website called Suitable Rishta for her matchmaking duties,as reported by Firstpost. Sima turned her hobby of socializing with people and matching turned into a full-blown business. Now, as we have already seen in the show, her clients come from all over the world: from the UK and Australia to Thailand and Singapore.
Sima aunty has even acted in a movie titled A Suitable Girl back in 2017, and was of course shown as a matchmaker. The film was screened at South Asian Women's Creative Collective (SAWCC) in 2017 and the Tribeca Film Festival of that same year. Interestingly, it had won the coveted Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award.
How much money does she charge to do ‘the work of God’?
Well, nothing in life comes for free, or cheap, and definitely not Sima Taparia’s services. The Netflix smash Indian Matchmaking saw Sima Taparia become an overnight sensation. But even before the reality show started trending on the streaming giant, Sima was making money like it’s nobody’s business.
Her fee, as reported by Lifestyle Asia, stars at a whopping one lakh Indian rupees or £1,0834 pounds approx and goes up to 5 lakh Indian rupees or £5,420 approx.that the star marriage consultant charges on both sides!
Sima Taparia’s screening process is tough as a nut
According to her interview with Condé Nast Traveller, she goes to meet the boy and his family first, see what their home is like, find out about their place or work and other details such as the school this potential groom has been to, before diving deep into his lifestyle choices.
She said during the course of the interview that finding out more about the person helps her ‘assess their lifestyles’ and then she recommends a suitable match that is compatible in her eyes.
‘This is where Tinder, Bumble and Shaadi.com can’t compete.’
She also likes to ‘get to the bottom of things’ and find out ‘inside stories’, other than finding out the family’s values and other details one would ‘never get from looking at a person’s online profile’.
Sima Taparia once told Today of her matchmaking skills:
‘If I was God, daily I could have matched three successful couples. Daily three, or more. But I'm not God.’
Read more:
⋙ Indian Matchmaking: Where are the season 2 couples now?
⋙ Indian Matchmaking season 3: New contestant, new location...here's what to expect
