First Indian matrimonial channel hits a right chord

NOIDA, India: Indians are obsessed with weddings and obsessed with reality television. Now Shagun TV, a new television channel headquartered in a sprawling suburb of India’s capital, is hoping it has found a can’t-miss idea — merging the two into a 24-hour matrimonial TV station.
Shagun TV can itself seem obsessed. Artwork on the windows of its lobby depict an Indian wedding procession, with turbaned men beating drums and an elephant-drawn carriage carrying the groom. In the main TV studio, a large cardboard astrology chart lies against a wall, used by one host to answer wedding and relationship questions. And a plasma television loops video of a bridal ceremony.
Then there are the programs. There is a bridal makeover show, a show featuring dreamy honeymoon destinations and one on the often-fraught relationship between mothers and daughters-in-law. There’s “Gold n’ Beautiful” that showcases bridal jewelry. Coming soon are marriage-themed soap operas.
“There is no reining in the penchant for (wedding) celebrations in India,” said Dheeraj Sinha, author of “Consumer India: Inside the Indian Mind and Wallet.” “They are only becoming louder and more professional.”
Media analysts say the channel is the first in India offering round-the-clock wedding entertainment. It looks to cash in on a big fat Indian wedding market valued at an estimated $38 billion a year and expected to grow 25 to 30 percent annually, according to Alex Kuruvilla, the managing director of Conde Nast India, which publishes a string of luxury magazines.
The Indian wedding season, which starts in October and lasts until spring, can at times seem like a bridal invasion. Traffic grinds to a halt in major cities on wedding dates thought to be astrologically auspicious.
For centuries, Indian marriages were alliances between families of similar backgrounds, and the weddings were displays of status and wealth. In many ways, the quest for status is only intensifying as India’s economy grows.
Nidhi Gaur, 25, a recent guest on a Shagun talk show, said the TV channel has helped her prepare for her fairytale wedding.
“I can decide: ‘This is the place I want to buy my dresses, my jewelry’,” she said.
Nidhi’s family began saving for her wedding when she turned 18. Five hundred people are expected at her catered November nuptials at what she calls a “lavish five-star hall.”
If things are fairly tame now, the show’s hosts intend to raise pricklier wedding issues, like dowry demands and inter-caste marriages.