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Indian Matchmaking’s Sima Taparia, popularly called ‘Sima Aunty’ on the Netflix reality show where she works to match Indians looking for a life partner across the globe, has been in the profession for 20 years now. The Netflix show had faced criticism for highlighting arranged marriages and glorifying biases and prejudices, with Sima often seen prescribing ‘adjustment and compromise,’ mostly to women on the show.
Sima herself faced controversy when TV actress Nausheen Ali Sardar accused her of denying services due to her religion in August this year. A few months back, in an interaction with Siddharth Kannan, Nausheen had shared that they had approached Sima after her show became a huge success in 2019. She said, “My sister approached her because the show was such a hit. But when I told her I was open to marrying someone from a Catholic, Sikh, or Punjabi background, Sima said, ‘No, we can’t find you someone because you’re Muslim.’ I couldn’t help laughing at how absurd it was.” Nausheen had also hinted at Sima being very conservative, asking women to keep quiet and their eyes down; she had also gone on to call her method outdated.
Now, in an exclusive interview with SCREEN, Sima has reacted to Nausheen’s accusation, saying that she refused it out of ‘innocence’ as she doesn’t offer her services for ‘that particular caste’.
When we asked Sima about the issue, she went on to say, “Matchmaking is all about destiny, and I am not God. Five years back, when the show came, they had asked me for matchmaking. I had said that I don’t do it for that special caste; it’s been five years since that, and now it has gotten printed somewhere. It’s okay, I got publicity out of it. I had just refused out of innocence.”
Reacting to the negativity and trolling she has received for her method and advice, Sima added, “I enjoy every bit of fame, and I don’t get an ego from it. I meet many stars, and I have appeared on many shows like Bollywood Wives, Bigg Boss, so I enjoy it. The youth is a huge fan of me. In fact, I enjoy the trolling too. Negative and positive publicity, both are good, so why should I be scared? It’s people’s work to troll. Everyone will not write good things; some will also have negative things to say.”
Born and brought up in Gulbarga, Karnataka, Sima was an ambitious girl. Sharing how she always wanted to do something in life, Sima said, “I was very ambitious as a child. But my parents were conservative, so we were not allowed to do many things. However, it was my dream to do something in life. When I got married in Mumbai to a business family, I also didn’t have the chance to do anything there. I was so passionate, I wanted love and respect from the world, and by this, I got that. I didn’t work for fame; it was a byproduct. Earlier, matchmaking used to happen on a very small level; someone in the family would play the cupid, and it was done. In my case, my aunt had suggested this proposal. One day, I thought that I was social, had good talking skills, could gauge people and their personalities, I loved to travel, so why not do something that suited my nature and also helped society? My show, Indian Matchmaking, has today become a world icon.”
She remains a champion of arranged marriage, claiming that even in this day and age, ‘arranged marriage has its advantages’ and will stick to her traditional methods. On the work front, now Sima Taparia has also turned host for a micro-series called Sach Ya Kalesh, where real-life couples will be seen putting their bond to the test.
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