Prerna Singh
Bravo has an eye for what makes excellent reality television, and ‘Family Karma’ is an interesting addition to its list of offerings. The reality series follows a group of Indian Americans who have been friends for a long time. Their friendship runs deep as their families moved to Miami, Florida, in the 70s and 80s and have been a tight-knit unit since then.
Several aspects of the show bring up questions of whether the series is genuine or not. While TV shows and films in the West have started to represent the Indian community more actively in some way or the other, they still paint an incomplete picture. Therefore, it is understandable if it gets a person wondering how authentic this Bravo reality series is. Here is everything we’ve gathered to put your mind at ease!
Is Family Karma Real or Scripted?
The one thing that stands out about the series is the relationships among the cast members, be it with their parents or friends. One can tell how much these relationships mean to them because they aren’t just close to each other but also have strong bonds with the important people in each of their lives. In an interview, Anisha Ramakrishna shared that the families on the show have known each other for more than 25 years. Since Bravo was looking for a group of friends and their family that genuinely hung out together, this set of people fit the bill perfectly.
The intergenerational relationship is a fascinating aspect of the series that Shaan Patel also brought up in an interview in April 2020. He was surprised that people belonging to other minority communities could strongly associate with the experiences of the cast members. A friend of his who grew up in a Pennsylvania Dutch community said he could relate to the show since parents in his community were also very involved in their children’s lives.
Just as in the series, he has seen friendships trickle down to the next generation because parents and their kids spent time together. Anisha claimed that the show documents their regular lives as they actually live with their parents. Another thing that hits close to home for many people is the constant push and pull between the modern and the traditional.
While the young adults in the series lean towards the American way of life, their parents try to ensure that they remain rooted in their culture. As far as culture and tradition are concerned, marriage often becomes a bone of contention between the two generations. So, what we see on the show is not too far removed from the experiences of many individuals in the Indian American and modern Indian communities.
In the conversation with NBC Miami, Anisha and Shaan said that many of the dramatic day-to-day struggles they face find their way into the show. They also admitted that even though they might not always be at ease sharing everything onscreen, what the viewers see is raw and honest. People can immediately spot when something is fake, and the entertaining and heartwarming equation with one’s family is difficult to fabricate indeed. Taking all of these points into consideration, it is clear that ‘Family Karma’ offers an authentic glimpse into the lives of the cast members. The experience of doing the show together has got the seven of them even closer in real life, as revealed by Shaan in his April 2020 interview.
Read More: Where Is Family Karma Filmed?
