Exclusive: Tinder’s Swipe Ride Episode 3 Has Kusha Kapila And Swara Bhasker Talk About Democracy In Dating, Female Desire And More
Yaar, one of my biggest peeves with movies is that they really do skew your notions about romance and love. I’ve had some of my ugliest arguments with friends who normalised stalking or the hero’s passive-aggressive behaviour or even his downright aggression towards his heroine in a movie as “love”. In fact, a fresh Bollywood release peddles this very misogynistic idea. Arre, why can’t someone ask us, women, what we want to see on screen? How about some of those men written by women wala Twitter thread? It’s why Tinder’s Swipe Ride series, featuring Kusha Kapila, is something that I really enjoy watching; it just gets me with all the talk about dating, but from the perspective of what women want, untrained by any societal expectations of what women ‘should’ want.
ICYMI, Swipe Ride is a fresh concept by Tinder, a web series that has Kusha Kapila—who I absolutely enjoy watching even if she were reading the phone directory on-screen—driving a woman to her date with her Tinder match. Hence the name, Swipe Ride. Clever, no? But there’s a third wheel too in this four-wheeler, and it is a celebrity guest that changes every week! Both Kusha and the guest offer some interesting dating advice, share anecdotes about their own dating lives, and discuss the potential date they’re dropping their fellow passenger off on. Let’s just say, by the time this girl’s out of the car, not just her, but everyone in that car, and even us, we’re all wiser, more experienced, and prepared to make some good swiping decisions!
The series has had some pretty fun guests aboard, like Sara Ali Khan and Rashmika Mandanna, in their previous episodes. And for this third episode, which dropped today, the celebrity guest is none other than “the ambassador of self-love in Bollywood” as she puts it herself, Swara Bhasker!
The episode begins with Kusha Kapila picking up Swara who surprises Kashish, a Tinder user who loves Bollywood and used to believe in those typical regressive notions about what her hero should be like. But as the conversation progresses, we actually see Kashish talk about her own realisations of what toxic masculinity is and how men with anger issues are a HUGE red flag. Door jaao!
I love the fun and casual vibe of Swipe Ride which just feels like three girlfriends chilling in the car, sharing notes on boys they’ve dated, and offering free ki advice! Swara Bhasker went all out with candid anecdotes about her school-time boyfriend and some shiddat wala pyaar, while Kusha, who is married, talked about grand gestures that her husband did for her before they got hitched. As for Kashish (or shall we say Kash? Kaash?), she shared some sweet deets about the guy she was meeting up with, her Tinder match, Sid, and what about his bio melted her heart!
As expected, the episode is full of some very quotable, print-on-a-t-shirt dating lessons. Like when Swara Bhasker says, “We have to introduce a little democracy in dating. Democratic Consent in dating should be normalized!” while talking about her own movie Raanjhana and its depiction of stalking. Or when Kashish dropped this pearl of wisdom that I am going to be following a lot: “I believe that relationships agar main casual bhi kar rahi hun then it needs to be fairly dedicated.”
Also Read: Exclusive: Artist Indu Harikumar Talks About Understanding Consent In Modern Dating Through Her Body And Sex Positive Art Series
The girls also discussed a very interesting point on how Bollywood is usually waxing eloquent about male desire and the male gaze. But there are few movies or songs that actually talk about love and romance from the perspective of female desire, like the song ‘Zara Zara’ from RHTDM!
TBH, this was quite a fun ride, because it felt like somebody’s finally voicing my exact thoughts about dating and the notions and expectations we have from our romantic partners!
You can watch the episode here:
Did you have fun watching it? Told ya, it’s a match!
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