YouTube is Changing How Indian Women Date
Digital video series are trying to coax India out of its traditional system of arranged marriage — but they need to rewrite perceptions of dating apps
A woman in an uncomfortable, toxic relationship breaks up with her boyfriend just before they take a trip. Her friend convinces her to go online to find a date, who turns out to be a charming, kind, considerate man who has also been looking for commitment.
This is the story line for a popular YouTube series called Yours Cupidly, produced by a channel called Shitty Ideas Trending (SIT) [editor’s note: yes, really], founded by Indian actress Chhavi Mittal. The eight-episode series was made in collaboration with the dating app OkCupid. The finale aired on November 5th and gathered over 200,000 views in a few hours (which has since gone up to 331,068 views).
Similar themes run across a variety of short films and videos on the platform. Some are about matching with school or neighborhood crushes on a dating app, others are based on connecting with older students in university or meeting someone with a shared common history. The storylines tend to follow the narrative arc of romantic comedy movies and the conversations between protagonists are light-hearted and respectful. Most of…
