Ahead of the busiest time for online dating, Bumble, the women-first social networking app, has announced Dating These Days. An exciting array of popular, notable personalities such as Neena Gupta, Sanya Malhotra, Kirti Kulhari, Sumukhi Suresh, Sushant Divgikar and Maanvi Gagroo will facilitate meaningful conversations around dating in India. The new weekly series features unfiltered conversations highlighting various barriers and challenges to dating and other related hot-topics such as making the first move, body positivity and familial matrimonial pressure in our dating journeys. Hosted by Rytasha Rathore, Dating These Days will launch on Monday, December 7, 2020.

Whether it’s honest and open conversations about body positivity and equality in relationships, or the tough realities of familial matrimonial pressures, the way we are connecting with each other has never been more important. As India unlocks, and ahead of the new year, the new series Dating These Days is aimed at helping people navigate these conversations and challenges in dating.

Speaking on familial matrimonial pressures, Neena shared, “I have been very vocal about how self-love is of extreme importance. Relationships and marriages are successful if your happiness is derived from within. There is also the constant struggle between generation gaps, however, we need to understand that the older generation is not rigid. We have just been conditioned to think in a certain way because of our upbringing. I always have transparent and honest conversations with my daughter who explains her thought process to me, which helps me understand this generation better. Communication is the key – the more you talk, the better you understand. It was a pleasure to share my experiences and opinions on Bumble’s series with Sanya and Rytasha.”

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Speaking on the her experience of familial matrimonial pressures, actor Sanya said, “I think the best way to deal with the pressure or naysayers is to hear their feedback, take what you want and discard the rest–you need to be sure of what you really want and tell yourself that you are doing good. It took me some time to explain to my parents but eventually they understood. If you are clear about your wants, desires, aspirations, you'll be strong enough to deal with the unsolicited opinions and pressures.”

Speaking on body positivity and gender stereotypes on the series Dating These Days, Sushant Divgikar shared, “It’s extremely important to have dialogues and conversations around such pertinent issues like body positivity, which we have so comfortably neglected for so many years. We’ve caused more harm by harping on the fact that there has to be this absurd standard of ‘beauty’ that people need to adhere to in order to feel or look beautiful. I’m very happy to have spoken about demolishing gender stereotypes around beauty, weight, size, colour on Bumble’s Dating These Days series. I think it’s so important, I’m so happy to be  doing this with two very powerful women–Sumukhi and Rytasha. I respect them for their art, regardless of their shape and size. We all need to realise that art has no boundaries, gender or barriers.” 

Kirti said, “Making the first move in life might seem like climbing a mountain, especially when we’re younger and you’re getting to know yourself and the world. I know the thought of being the first one to express yourself can be daunting. As a teenager, I lacked self confidence and self esteem, and always wondered if I could make the first move. As I grew up and found who I am internally, I realised it's actually empowering to be the first mover. It takes a lot of courage, but being the first person to ask someone out, or even to actually propose to someone (I actually asked my husband to marry me!) is incredibly empowering. Once you’ve done it, like everything else in life, you laugh at yourself and go–that was super easy!”

Maanvi added, “I’m delighted to know that Bumble enables & encourages women to make the first move in the big bad world of dating. Had a great time on their new series, 'Dating these days' - a show I find so refreshingly empowering. For women who want to make the first move or start a conversation without the fear of judgement, without labels of 'too desperate' or 'too easy'.