‘Why Does The Gold Digger Dig Gold?’ A Look Into Tara Khanna’s Character Arc In ‘Made In Heaven’ 

The ‘gold digger’ is a social in addition to cinematic determine that the Indian viewers is conversant in. Anytime a girl marries above her rank, she is tagged as a ‘gold digger’ and has to show constancy to her love, and never cash. Solely then is she accepted by her in-laws and the viewers at massive. Prime Unique Indian TV collection Made in Heaven radically subverts this trope from the very first episode. Made in Heaven introduces one in every of its protagonists, Tara Khana, by the acquainted mould of the gold digger who marries into cash, finds a snug life-style, and begins a enterprise of her personal.

As a substitute of swiftly distancing her from this detested determine, the narration of the present gently nudges Tara to completely embody the determine of the gold digger and get snug in her place. Within the first episode ‘All That Glitters Is Gold’, Tara and her enterprise accomplice, Karan, plan a marriage for probably the most prosperous households of Delhi, the Roshans. The Roshans, the dad and mom of the groom, are suspicious of the lady’s intention as a result of she comes from a working-class background. They make use of a personal detective to do a background verify on the ‘bride-to-be’, Aliya, on the eve of their marriage ceremony itself.

Tara and Karan oblige to their demand and ultimately, they uncover that she has had an abortion previously. Because the dad and mom discover out that she will not be a virgin anymore, they now object to the marriage much more strongly. This prompts the couple to stroll out of their very own marriage ceremony occasion and disown all of Roshan’s inheritance. With their cash on the road, and an enormous financial loss from last-minute cancellation looming massive, Tara and Karan rush to make the couple return to their marriage ceremony and get the occasion began.

That is when Tara has a candid dialog with Aliya, and convinces her to return to the marriage. Aliya says that neither of them cares concerning the cash, able to distance herself from additional accusations of ‘gold digging’ that had adopted her until she walked out. ”It’s 5000 crores! When the romance wears out, which it can thoughts you, he’s going to care. And also you’ll be the explanation he’s broke.” Tara lastly provides, “Finally, they’ll die, babe. And all that cash is yours.”

Lastly, the marriage occurs, underneath the muted whispers of marriage ceremony friends and family members questioning if Aliya is certainly a gold digger. The episode closes with the narrator foreseeing that doubt and suspicions solid on Aliya’s character would final virtually so long as their marriage would, if not even longer. 

Made In Heaven, as a narrative, doesn’t haste in the direction of proving its protagonist’s intentions as sincere and pure. Moderately, it boldly leans into the trope of the ‘gold digger’ and forces its viewers to deconstruct the which means and the social implications behind it. All through 9 episodes, we discover Tara struggling in her marriage as her husband cheats on her. Via flashbacks and glimpses, it’s revealed to us that Tara, hailing from a struggling, middle-class household in North Delhi, actually digs her approach into the boundless gold and cash of her husband, Adil Khanna. She lies, pretends, and leaks intercourse footage of herself to safe a spot in Adil’s coronary heart and guarantee a wedding proposal from him. 

But, she struggles to carry onto the wedding that she fought her life for. The category consciousness persists in her reception amongst her in-laws. The information of her personal artifice in bringing concerning the marriage nonetheless plagues her thoughts and bars her from forming any actual connection along with her husband. 

In an try to seek out which means in her sad marriage, she goes again to her roots- to the outdated neighbourhood of her household, to see what a lifetime of honesty and authenticity would have given her. She visits her outdated grooming college which trains younger women on the right way to seem refined, and “well-brought-up” by manners and habits. The purpose of such a college is to assist working-class women land wealthy husbands. In a approach, we are able to say that it’s a college that trains women on the right way to be ‘gold diggers’. 

The present makes us confront the query that no movie or present has ever requested before- ‘Why does the gold digger must dig gold?’ 

For girls hailing from households that lack monetary safety, marriage is considered as a ‘approach out’, not only for herself but in addition for her complete household. Tara is not any exception. She watches her sister marrying for love and selecting a lifetime of financial struggles. Her mom detests the match. Younger Tara, vows to do issues in another way for herself and her mom. To cite Amy, from Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Ladies, ‘marriage may be very a lot an financial proposition’ for her and she or he takes it very significantly.

She understands the significance of cash and goes to extreme lengths to get it. As soon as she will get married, the title and the standing of the Khannas assist her household economically and elevate their social place. Even when her conjugal relationship begins rotting from the within, she will not be solely inspired by her mom to proceed her marriage however is usually pressured to remain put for the sake of her household. It’s at that exact juncture of marital discord and intense psychological misery, Tara realises she has figuratively dug a gilded cage of gold and locked herself in.

Society positions ladies as such that their marriage will get considered as the best milestone of their life. In the event that they want cash and don’t discover a match that gives so, they’re labelled as “fools” in love or incapable or unworthy of something greater than a struggling life. In the event that they do safe a match that pays off effectively, they get labelled as gold diggers. 

The very establishment of marriage was based upon materialistic alternate. Historically, ladies have been nothing greater than commodities that have been to be exchanged between communities by the establishment of marriage. As societies progressed and superior, love was launched to cover all of the ugly strategies of feminine objectification implicit within the very basis of marriage. Love justified all and it made marriages sacred. But, the very actual financial implications of marriage continued to be the identical. 

We began blaming these ladies who didn’t indulge within the phantasm of affection that turned connected to marriage in well mannered societies. Ladies’s financial situation hinged upon their marital standing for the longest time, but when they have been seen visibly worrying about cash of their marital prospects, they turned tagged as ‘gold diggers’. Tara’s excessive motion turns into symptomatic of such societal situations. The irony persists in Tara’s character arc and makes us have a look at the determine of the gold digger with nuanced empathy. 

The determine of the ‘gold digger’ turns into Frakenstein’s monster that the patriarchal society in itself is complicit in giving start to. She is purged out of a society that’s stricken with poverty whereas we glance on, with disgust. The narrative doesn’t justify Tara’s behaviour however makes us query whether or not it’s actually that uncommon, sudden, or distasteful for a lady to wish to marry wealthy. Even in our fairy tales, little women are made to dream of a Prince Charming who would hail from royalty and make her one as effectively.