THE BIG-FAT-INDIAN WEB SERIES

Actor Sobhita Dhulipala, and directors Alankrita Shrivastava and Neeraj Ghaywan, discuss Made in Heaven's capital connection and what constitutes a perfect wedding

- KARTIK BHARDWAJ

IN 2019 when it premiered, the pilot episode of Made in Heaven took us into the shallow, glitzy realm of Indian marriages. It also gave us a taste into the dog-eat-dog world of Delhi society. The episode concludes with the bride agreeing to tie the knot, despite her in-laws putting up a private detective on her. Understandable. The groom’s net worth is ₹5,000 crore. “An outsider has clawed her way into the inside,” says the series’ moral-spewer Kabir (Shashank Arora), in a voiceover. “But only time will tell if she gets accepted. Till then, welcome to Delhi.”

“So much of Made in Heaven comes from my knowledge of Delhi,” says the show’s writer and director Alankrita Shrivastava, who grew up in Delhi and studied filmmaking at the Jamia Millia Islamia University. “Delhi is a city where power is at the centre of everything. Not just money power but also political clout. Here, you are constantly asked where you live and what your father does.”

Neeraj Ghaywan, the new creative entrant in the series’ latest season, interjects with an anecdote. “Back in my corporate days, I was once recruiting in Delhi. This one applicant calls me and asks where he can park his ‘Esteem’. The fact that he couldn’t say ‘car’ without telling me its brand name says so much about the city.”

On the surface,