Made in Heaven (TV series)

Overview

Made in Heaven is an Indian Hindi-language drama web television series created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, produced under their banner Tiger Baby Productions in association with Excel Entertainment. The series premiered on Amazon Prime Video and revolves around two wedding planners based in Delhi who navigate the contradictions of contemporary urban India through the lens of big-fat Indian weddings. It is widely regarded as one of the landmark Indian streaming productions, noted for its examination of class, caste, sexuality, gender, and tradition within the upper-class North Indian milieu.

Key facts

Premise

The series follows Tara Khanna (Sobhita Dhulipala) and Karan Mehra (Arjun Mathur), partners running a high-end wedding planning agency named "Made in Heaven" in Delhi. Each episode is structured around a different wedding the duo manages, while parallel arcs trace the personal lives of the planners and their team. The weddings serve as a narrative device to explore issues such as dowry, domestic abuse, infidelity, interfaith and intercaste marriage, queer identity, body image, and the persistence of patriarchy among the urban elite.

Cast and characters

• Sobhita Dhulipala as Tara Khanna, co-founder of the agency, married to industrialist Adil Khanna.
• Arjun Mathur as Karan Mehra, the other co-founder, a closeted-then-out gay man whose arc engages with Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
• Jim Sarbh as Adil Khanna, Tara's husband.
• Kalki Koechlin as Faiza Naqvi, Tara's friend.
• Shashank Arora as Kabir Basrai, the in-house cinematographer who provides voiceover narration.
• Shivani Raghuvanshi as Jaspreet "Jazz" Kaur, an employee from a modest background.
• Vijay Raaz as Ramesh Gupta, the agency's accountant.
• Mona Singh as Bulbul Jauhari (Season 2).
• Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju as Meher Chaudhary (Season 2), among the first transgender characters portrayed by a transgender actor in mainstream Indian streaming drama.

Production

Made in Heaven was developed by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, who had previously collaborated on films such as Talaash and Gully Boy. The first season's nine episodes were directed by Akhtar, Kagti, Nitya Mehra, Prashant Nair and Alankrita Shrivastava. Writing credits for season one include Akhtar, Kagti, Nair and others. The show was filmed largely in Delhi and the National Capital Region, with episodes also set against destination weddings.

Season 2 added Neeraj Ghaywan and Nitya Mehra as directors alongside Akhtar and Kagti. Ghaywan's episode in season two, centred on a Dalit bride asserting her caste identity at her own wedding, drew particular critical attention. The episode also led to a public dispute when writer Yashica Dutt alleged her memoir Coming Out as Dalit had inspired the storyline without acknowledgement, a claim addressed by the makers.

Release

The first season, comprising nine episodes, was released worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on 8 March 2019, timed with International Women's Day. The second season, comprising seven episodes, premiered on 10 August 2023 after a four-year gap.

Reception

Made in Heaven received broadly positive reviews from Indian and international critics, who praised its production design, performances—particularly those of Arjun Mathur and Sobhita Dhulipala—and its willingness to engage with sensitive social issues. Arjun Mathur was nominated at the International Emmy Awards in the Best Performance by an Actor category in 2020 for his role as Karan Mehra, becoming one of the few Indian actors to receive such a nomination for a streaming series. The show was also recognised at Indian web award ceremonies including the Filmfare OTT Awards.

The second season generated wider debate, with critics commenting on its more explicit treatment of caste, queerness, and feminism, while some viewers found its tone preachier than the first. The Dalit-wedding episode and the inclusion of a transgender character were noted as significant moments in Indian streaming representation.

Themes and significance

The series is frequently cited in discussions of how Indian streaming platforms have allowed long-form storytelling to address subjects considered difficult for mainstream Hindi cinema. Recurring concerns include:

• The commodification and spectacle of Indian weddings.
• Patriarchal expectations placed on brides and working women.
• Section 377, queer visibility, and homophobia within elite families.
• Dowry, marital rape and domestic violence.
• Class divides between employers and employees, and the everyday workings of caste in metropolitan India.

Made in Heaven is also notable for its visual identity, including art direction by Suzanne Caplan Merwanji and costumes featuring designers from the Indian fashion industry, which contributed to its reputation as a stylistically rich portrait of upper-class Delhi.

Related topics

• Zoya Akhtar
• Reema Kagti
• Excel Entertainment
• Tiger Baby Productions
• Amazon Prime Video India
• Indian web series
• Neeraj Ghaywan
• Sobhita Dhulipala
• Arjun Mathur
• Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code