Aparna Dishes Truths About “Indian Matchmaking”

The Houston lawyer shot to fame for her one-liners and brutal honesty — but she’s fine if you forget her in six months.

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Houston lawyer Aparna Shewakramani, now 35, is one of the South Asian Americans who participated in the first season of Netflix's "Indian Matchmaking" reality show. (Netflix)

The Juggernaut

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July 30, 2020

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21 min

As Netflix’s reality series Indian Matchmaking has captivated audiences globally, participant Aparna Shewakramani has generated some of the most attention.

In the show, the then 34-year-old Houston lawyer is one of several millennials who employ the services of Sima Taparia, “Mumbai’s top matchmaker,” to find a partner. Her one-liners (“You know I hate comedy”; “I was happy to see that somebody was a unicorn on paper, but that doesn’t mean they’re a unicorn in real life”) spawned an entire ecosystem of memes

Her honesty and clarity about what she wants (and doesn’t) initially elicited knee-jerk reactions (Taparia accuses Shewakramani of “ordering off a menu” and gives her only one date option for her first set-up) but, over time, audiences have warmed up to a person who is far more nuanced in real life. 

The Juggernaut spoke with Shewakramani about her responses to both audience vitriol and love (#TeamAparna), how “unscripted” television fails to portray reality, her travel company, when she’ll visit the Bolivian salt flats, and why she’s fine with everyone forgetting her in six months (highly unlikely).

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