Mismatched on Netflix

It's no secret that I love romcoms, and I'm excited to see more and more in the form of series, because sometimes you need a 90 min. escape, while other times you want to live in the love a litlte...or at least binge it. The latest one I've watched is Mismatched. Mismatched is a light YA romcom based on "When Dimple Met Rishi," a novel by Sandhya Menon, and centers around a teenage boy, Rishi, who believes in old-fashioned love, and a career-driven teenage girl, Dimple, who defies old-fashioned Indian gender roles. It's not totally groundbreaking from a story perspective, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, because what's not to love about a bunch of nerds falling in love during a summer app-building course, and discovering their true desires while overcoming each of their own internal and external challenges? If you like shows like Atypical, The Half of It, or Never Have I Ever, I'd say you'd enjoy this one. The only difference is that this one is set in India and it's in a mixture of Hindi and English, though mostly Hindi. It kind of reminds me of my family or when I visit Taiwan. We speak a mix of languages in our home, and sometimes I'll hear my mom on the phone with her sister or friend and she'll be speaking Chinese, but suddenly throw out a random word or sentence in English. You'll also notice that the series seems to try to cover as many social issues as possible, including, sexism, classism, ageism, disability, broken homes, family issues, and same sex love. It's almost like someone was standing in the writer's room saying, "Tick all the boxes!" Something that I personally really appreciate is that for those of us who aren't Indian or don't live in India, this series shows us that teenagers, no matter where you are in the world, are teenagers and love is a universal language. Some of you may be thinking, "duh, Justine. Don't be naive." But something I always emphasize is that we are more similar than we are different. So, I hope people who might not normally watch an Indian or international series will watch it, read the subtitles, and enjoy it like they would any other silly ol' teen comedy.

Have you watched it? What's your take?