Rushi Kota on Highlighting Traditional South Asian Matchmaking Culture in Hallmark Channel's "Make Me a Match"

quotI don39t have enough good things to say about it and Hallmarkquot he continued quotEveryone on set was amazing From the producers and the director to the entire cast and crew everyone came to set every single day so prepared to work and with such a positive attitude I had a great time making this movie Coming out of the recent stresses of life and going to Vancouver I didn39t know if I was going to have enough time to prepare for it as it happened kind of quickly But once I got there everything just fell perfectly into place Then hitting it off immediately with Eva amp8230 I can39t say enough good things about herquotIn the film Kota portrays Bhumesh Boom the son and business manager of famed Indian matchmaker Raina Rekha Sharma whose ageold methods of pairing couples have a huge success rate Eager to adopt some of those magical traits is Vivi Bourne who believes incorporating some of them into her dating app Data Mate could take it to the next level After reluctantly finding herself the guinea pig of the experiment Vivi embarks on the process While trying to find her perfect match it becomes clear she didn39t have to look too farOne thing that became immediately apparent to Kota when reading the script was that by exploring Indian culture he was doing something important quotThis is a big deal for Hallmark and for South Asian culturequot he shared quotFor us to be on the mainstream is incredible This is who we are and now on TV with shows like Never Have I Ever on Netflix it39s starting to get really mainstream and give a lot of people who look like me an opportunity to do this craft I39m extremely proud that I get to represent and tell this wonderful storyquotIt39s also a fun story we39re telling that39s also part educationalquot he added quotThey39re not making cliches of anything so it39s a very big moment for me and South Asians I was like 39Wow we39re really making some moves over here39 And the other big thing is it39s not so different for everyone The culture is a little different sure but at the end of the day all the issues that the characters in the movie the South Asian characters and the nonSouth Asian characters are going through are universal That39s what I think is the takeaway from the filmquotWith the recent boxoffice and Oscar success of movies like the Indian Telugulanguage film RRR Kota is thrilled to be able to further things quotRRR was a really cool movie and actually from where I39m from in Indiaquot he explained quotIt used the Telugulanguage and that39s the first time I39ve seen anything like it come to the Oscars That was huge I think it39s really good that all markets are going in this direction and I hope they do more like it It39s great that RRR is getting highlighted but America is a melting pot so we have to make stories that are inclusive of everyonequotRegarding the educational aspect of Indian matchmaking culture depicted in the movie despite having prior knowledge Kota learned a few things quotI39ve never personally used it as I met my wife in high school and we married in 2020quot he revealed quotWhat39s depicted in the film is pretty true to how it goes Especially the traditions of astrology which are very accurate We also had a lovely cultural consultant on set who made sure everything was appropriate to real life and that was refreshing for me I was born in India but growing up in the States I39m a little removed from the matchmaking side of things I learned an immense amount just by being in this moviequotAnd it does workquot he added quotIndia has a huge successful marriage rate Things are shifting a lot more but I just realized that most of my family has been through an arranged marriage That was revelatory for me After Never Have I Ever came out people were asking me about arranged marriage and matchmaking I never thought about that until recently All my family has been going through that and they39re all in very successful marriages The movie also touches on how important family is because at the end of the day you are all part of a familyquotWith so much of today39s dating culture relying on dating app analytics to find that perfect match Kota is hopeful that by highlighting some triedandtrue traditional methods that might shift quotLove is a core part of our DNAquot he pondered in closing quotI don39t think AI computers and algorithms are there yet Sure it can work in theory but if you hate the way a person snores or some little tick they have in the morning it39s going to make things really challengingquotMake Me a Match will be telecast Saturday June 24 at 8 pm on Hallmark Channel as part of their June Weddings programming eventClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Rushi Kota on Highlighting Traditional South Asian Matchmaking Culture in Hallmark Channel's "Make Me a Match"

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Steve Gidlow

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

More Videos:

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT | BECOME A THOUGHT LEADERSHIP CONTRIBUTOR

Rushi Kota on Highlighting Traditional South Asian Matchmaking Culture in Hallmark Channel's "Make Me a Match"

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Steve Gidlow

TAGS:

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

Cookies