Netflix and Chill with Gabbi: Meet the Patels

More stories from Gabrielle Zumpano

Tribeca Film Festival
April 21, 2016
Photo+Courtesy+of+BeliefNet.com.

Photo Courtesy of BeliefNet.com.

Valentine’s day is this Sunday, so for all you lonely hearts out there, like me, I have a Rom-Com Documentary for you to watch while you eat your Ben & Jerry’s and cry softly. Meet the Patels follows the real life efforts of Ravi Patel as he tries to find a wife in the traditional Indian way. Around Ravi’s 30th birthday, he was getting pressured even more than usual by his parents to find a wife and start a married life.

Geeta Patel, Ravi’s sister, decided to make the whole experience into a documentary to show the world the real life division between first generation and second generation Indian-Americans. Since Ravi is a Patel, he can only marry another Patel. The Patel he marries is not related to him, but has to be from the same 50 miles radius place in India that his ancestors are from. This alone makes Ravi’s search for love difficult. On top of that, Ravi had a secret girlfriend that he recently broke up with who was not a Patel, that he highkey loved. Ravi’s parents find out about her during the filming of this documentary and the whole thing will warm your heart up.

The footage of Ravi going on dates may seem like he met and went out with all the girls in about a week, but it actually took about two years to film all of it. For what Geeta and Ravi could not film, they made up for with animation, which happens to be hilarious. Amongst Ravi finding love you also get to learn the story of how his parents met and came to America to start their new life.

The documentary takes about an hour and a half to get through and it is quite entertaining because a lot of the various ways to find a wife are not commonly known, if you are not involved in the tradition.