The practice of polygamy (more than two people consensually in a marriage) has made a tumultuous debut on Bigg Boss OTT 3, where popular YouTuber Armaan Malik is a contestant, along with his “wives” Payal Malik and Kritika Malik. “Behind every successful man there is a woman,” quipped the host Anil Kapoor, “And sometimes there are two!” The women, onscreen at least, seemed to be on easy, good terms, and the nonplussed husband laughed alongside them. Of course, that they’ve decided to out their lifestyle on Bigg Boss suggests a canny plan of creating a stir; we know that on reality TV nothing succeeds like shock value.
Sure enough, outraged reactions on Twitter at this “gross, illegal and filthy” trio, blamed the producers for lack of ideas that lead them to focus on a “trashy” ménage à trois for entertainment. It’s a thought that because many of the users tend to be older, the Twitter landscape no longer accurately reflects the headspace of India’s urban 20 to 35-year-olds. Young singles, it turns out, are less enamoured of old fashioned commitment, which is increasingly seen as not a one-size-fits-all model.
A new generation is aware they needn’t follow the same drill, the beaten path of school, college, job and marriage, the bane of Indian existence so far. Online dating has opened up a range of possibilities that subtly challenge traditional, Indian middle class ambitions of owning a flat, a car and having two children. A quick glance throug.
