'Wedding Season': The Desi Rom-Com of Our Dreams

Netflix recently has had a huge boom of South Asian focused content this August and we’re here to talk about one of the most pleasant surprises of the bunch; ‘Wedding Season’. Starring Suraj Sharma (AKA Pi, from ‘Life of Pi) and Pallavi Sharda, the story follows Ravi and Asha, two twenty-somethings pressured by their parents to make an appearance at the barrage of upcoming weddings in the desi circle. Both Ravi and Asha have entirely different priorities, Ravi wants to focus on family and his mysterious job and Asha is too career-focused to care about rishtas. In order to avoid all the constant pressure, they come up with a plan to fake date to appease each of their parents – only for them to eventually fall for each other.

As a huge fan of rom coms, this movie had all the best cheesy tropes without it being too over-the-top. Both Sharma and Sharda had amazing chemistry and really had the audience rooting for their relationship. For those of us also in our twenties, you could really relate to Asha’s struggle in trying to get her parents to understand her reluctance to get married (especially considering her own sisters upcoming nuptials). And despite the rom com pitfalls of ‘workaholic woman learns the true meaning of love’ trope, you can’t help but smile and laugh with Asha and Ravi as they figure out their true feelings towards each other. The only negative thing that I have to say about this movie is how painfully obvious it is at times that they did not receive much funding to produce it. The dialogue at times felt a little stilted (or too cheesy), and the soundtrack honestly sounded like it came off the free track list on ‘iMovie’. However, disregarding some technical issues with the movie, as an audience member you’re constantly entertained by not only the whirlwind romance of Asha and Ravi, but the constant antics of interfering nosy desi parents.

In recent years, we’re seeing less, and less rom coms being made, and for those of us that love the genre it was amazing to see not only a well-made romantic comedy but one that featured South Asians as well. I hope that the success of a Netflix original like this prompts streaming services to keep coming out with well-made South Asian focused content – even better if we can see it in a cheesy romantic comedy format. So, if you're looking for a relaxed, fun and lovable rom-com, 'Wedding Season' might just be the perfect movie for you.

'Wedding Season' is available to watch on Netflix