Book vs. TV Show Review: When Dimple Met Rishi – Mismatched
I’m not gonna lie, I really like these posts about the book vs. the adaptation. This is probably my fourth post like this? I don’t see myself stopping them anytime soon 🙂
Anyway, today, I’m sharing with you guys my review on When Dimple Met Rishi (the book) and Mismatched (the TV show). I’ll give you the good, the bad, and the mediocre. Most of all, though, I’ll just share a lot of my thoughts and maybe convince you to read/watch both of these!
Book Information
Dimple wants nothing more than to be independent and allowed to follow the career of her dreams (without being forced to find a husband). Rishi wants the opposite. He wants to make his parents happy. He wants the perfect Indian marriage. So when he’s set up to marry Dimple and she’s going to a college program in San Francisco, he jumps at the chance to join her. The only problem? Dimple doesn’t know a thing about their arranged marriage. Not to mention she doesn’t want to get married. Ever.
When feelings between the two grow, will Dimple be able to be happy if she’s not independent? Or will giving Rishi up make her unhappier than she’s ever been?
Book Review | Heidi Dischler
I really really enjoyed this book. It had comedy, wholesomeness, romance, and adorably quirky main characters. When Dimple Met Rishi gave me everything I’m always searching for in a YA novel and I’m so glad I finally took the time out to read it after my book haul a few weeks ago.
Not only does this book have a diverse group of characters, but it also deals with life within a family, the expectations that parents hold you to, and the ultimate love that they show their children. Dimple and Rishi couldn’t be more different, but I loved them so much. Mainly because my husband and I are complete opposites, so reading about opposites in relationships in novels always makes me happy.
The book itself is set at a college campus in San Francisco where Dimple and Rishi compete together in a coding program for an app that they are developing. With Dimple and Rishi being two teenage Indian Americans (and also being set up to get married while Dimple doesn’t even realize it), this is the type of book that will make you swoon. And laugh. And smile. And give you all the feels. I mean holy hotness Batman! (Yes, an actual quote from the book and I absolutely love it).
Overall, the writing is brilliant, the voice and tone are amazing, and the plot couldn’t have been better. I don’t want to get into spoilers about this one because it’s just such a fun experience all together. Definitely one of my top reads this year.
Source: Personal Copy
“We just want your happiness, Dimple. That is the most important thing.”
– Sandhya Menon, When Dimple Met Rishi
TV Show Review | Heidi Dischler
I really don’t want to get into too many spoilers with this TV show review. I do, however, want you to know that this show is really nothing like the book. While I did find that a little saddening, I also really enjoyed the TV show. There were only like six episodes that were about thirty minutes each, so it wasn’t that time consuming either. I finished it in like three hours.
Something to keep in mind, though, is that Mismatched is in a different language, so if you watch the dubbed version, the actors’ lips don’t match up with what they’re saying. It does not bother me at all (I watch a lot of K-dramas… [subbed of course] don’t judge me!), but I know some people really don’t like that. I actually thought it was nice, in a way, to have it in Hindi because it felt like they were trying to stay true to Dimple and Rishi’s culture. Although, it does make me a little sad because the whole book was based upon Dimple and Rishi’s experiences as Indian Americans, so you completely lose that aspect of the book.
Okay, now to the actual story. Mismatched isn’t a bad TV show. I liked many things about it, but as a fan of When Dimple Met Rishi, you might be a little disappointed. Rishi and Dimple are still very true to their book characters (for the most part), but everything else is different. You can tell that the TV show was loosely based on the book, but it’s better to view it as a standalone. I enjoyed it when thinking about it from the perspective of its own story and not being related to the book.
Side note: I also really enjoyed that the TV show had a lot about League of Legends in it. It’s one of my husband’s favorite games, so seeing that on a TV show was pretty cool. We also play TFT together from time to time, so seeing League of Legends on the show was even more exciting. I had to pull my husband in and show him that they were talking about his game on my show. He rolled his eyes of course 🙂
Overall, I’d probably give this TV show a 4/5 rating in stars because it was definitely good. Hardcore fans of the book probably won’t like it, though.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Book vs. TV Show (The Differences)
Here comes major spoilers so don’t go any further if you still need to read the book or watch the TV Show!!!
So, usually a do a thorough overview of the major/minor differences in an adaptation vs. the book. However, this adaptation had so many differences, that it would take a lot of space to list them all. I’m just going to go over a few differences and the similarities that I could spot with the book.
The major differences are obviously the setting, the secondary characters, and literally anything else you can think of. They’re still at a computer programming class over the summer (thankfully), but other than that, everything else is pretty different. They added a few notable scenes from the book to the show like the coffee Dimple threw in Rishi’s face at their first meeting and a few other similar tiny scenes like that. Rishi does not draw comics in this show, he animates them, which didn’t bother me that much because it’s still a pretty similar idea.
So, to summarize, I didn’t dislike this TV show at all. Far from it! I actually enjoyed watching it since it was short, 30-minute episodes. I can tell that they based it on the book, but it’s better to go in with a completely open mind rather than hoping that it’ll be the exact same as the book. That way, you can at least enjoy it like I did. As an adaptation, though? Definitely 1/5 stars, but don’t let that stop you from watching the show! Plus, season 2 is coming out soon, so there’s also that!!
