What is the deal with crazy wedding plots?

Indian TV shows have often used weddings of lead as well as minor characters as big plot points. Often, weeks and months of showtime is dedicated to preparation of wedding day and hardly ever a wedding goes as planned. Some big drama always ensures. Lack of originality has led to some cliche plot points where the viewer can almost guess how the story will evolve in the future, often accompanied by hair-pulling frustration.
Here are some of the worst of wedding plots in Indian serials.

Marriage swap

Classic plot. Or should I say the most abused plot? So here is how marriage swaps go... bride/groom comes with face completely covered (first sign she is not the one supposed to be getting married). Also, miraculously, everyone goes blind during these rituals. No one notices change in height, body shape or even the different face (groom's face is almost always recognizable). Then comes one critical moment when groom has to fill sindoor in bride's hairline. Now everyone will know that the bride is different, right? WRONG! Every wedding function in Indian TV land always hire the same electrician who just know the precise moment when to switch off the lights! The one moment when face might be seen, lights go off. And when the ritual is complete, finally, finally its time for everyone to be shocked with the devastating truth.

Bonus point: the real bride/groom is just at the point of stopping the wedding but gets pulled away at the last moment and no one in the entire functions notices him/her.

Double bonus point: there are two weddings going on and both the couples get interchanged!!

Culprits: Thapki pyar ki (happens twice!), Swaragini, Naagin season 1, Udaan (Imli decides to take Tina's place and marry Suraj. Suraj realizes and does another swap so that Imli ends up marrying Vivaan, and Chakor, Vivan's bride, ends up marrying Suraj. Suraj's orginal bride Tina is just gone. Whew!), Ishq Mein Marjawan (although Arohi did look like Tara), Ishqbaaz, KumKum Bhagya (though Aliya was stopped from marrying Purab in Bulbul's place).

Revenge wedding

How many plots have been dedicated to this? Interestingly, it is most often the men who decide to forcefully marry a woman so that he can 'teach her a lesson' or 'make her life a hell.'  The woman is often outspoken and fearless while the man is... what do you say about a man who marries for punishment? Surprisingly, these plots almost always end with the spouses falling in love with each other, after the woman has 'changed the husband into a better person'.

culprits: Udaan, Naagin (all seasons! although revenge plot is completely different and involves lots of murder), Ishq Mein Marjawan, Madhubala, Yeh hai Mohabbatein (Param's second marriage with Simmi), Laado Season 2, Ishqbaaz.

Majburi wala wedding

Oh the problems forcing marriage in Indian TV Land. Well, financial problems mainly. The one with the obsessive lover and threats of "marry me or I will ruin your family", "marry me or I shall bankrupt your family" or "marry me and I shall help your family". Again, it is often the men playing the roles of obsessive lovers.

There are of course other 'majburis' leading to marriage. Child custody, 'honor', pregnancy (often false), some promise given by elders, or even health problems faced by elders all lead to a fated wedding. 

culprits: Kulfi Kumar Bajewala (here Sikander is forced to marry Lovely), Aap ke ajane se, Kumkum Bhagya (Disha and Purab's marriage), Yeh hai Mohabbatein, Savitri Devi, Jodha Akbar, Kumkum Bhagya (thankfully Abhi never marries Tanu... Oh wait, he does).

Stubborn/Angry Wedding

Remember the sequence in Tanu weds Manu returns where Tanu prepares for the wedding of her own husband and in the end Manu realizes he still loves his wife? Yeah, Indian TV writers have done a PhD in such sequences. The hero/heroine is in love with someone else but decides to marry a third person, because of anger, stubborness or yet to be realized love. Cue for the other lead to claim he will make the hero/heroine fall for her/him in seven days (or less) before the wedding. When does the realization occur? Just one step away from completing the seventh phera! 

No one ever cares for the decked up other person who has to return home without the promised spouse. Of course, he is more often than not an over the top villain, so who cares, right?

Sometimes, both hero heroine are angry and decide to marry someone else, but true love wins at the end (or doesn't).

culprits: Bepannah, Savitri Devi, Ishqbaaz, Kumkum Bhagya (Abhi did have amnesia while decing to marry Tanu), Kundali Bhagya, Aap ke ajane se.

Sigh. I am sure I have still missed some or the other cliched plot. Where are the wedding sequences where two people, having agreed to marry each other without any lie involved, do end up getting married on wedding day? Well they do exist... in dream sequences!