We recommend: Podcast gyaan on pyaar-vyaar
Editor’s note: Talking about love and heartbreak has been the greatest challenge of humankind. Here’s a list of seven podcasts from the splainer team that engage with dating, breakups and self love through interviews with experts and celebrities, academia and stand-up comedy!
Love Matters with Leeza Mangaldas: Hosted by India’s leading voice on sex education, this podcast dives into love, sex, and relationships in the country. Each episode features honest conversations with guests who bring real-life stories and insights on everything from identity and gender to breakups and desire. It’s a space to talk about things we’re usually told to keep quiet. Our pick? The breakup episode with Merenla Imsong—an honest, comforting chat about heartbreak, self-worth and moving on.
Why Won’t You Date Me? with Nicole Bryer: This multi-award winning podcast is hosted by Nicole Bryer who has been running the show for 8 years now. She talks to friends, celebs to experts about love and inclusivity. The show is humorous, thoughtfully curated and opens up space to talk about insecurities. We recommend watching the episode with Jameela Jamil which touches on everything from hating yourself, body dysmorphia to sudden glow ups and booty calls and how navigating love can be exhausting. We also recommend the episodes with comedian Taylor Tomlison who talks about her Christian upbringing and the forbidden idea of love and actor Jesse Tyler Fergusson who candidly discusses what it's like to work on ‘Modern Family’ without a single gay writer in the writing room.
Dating Is Garbage by IVM Podcasts: Time for a mini-throwback to 2019 with this 13-episode series hosted by Surbhi, Jaanam and Abbas—then-staffers at Cyrus Broacha’s podcast network at the time. The setup is simple: a special guest—usually a comedian—joins the trio to discuss modern dating, woes and all. We recommend starting from the very first episode, in which comedian Urooj Ashfaq jumps on board to discuss rejection. It’s consistently funny, it’s relatable and it’s a breeze to listen to.
Love Commandos by Rough Translation: This six-episode narrative miniseries comes from NPR—in collaboration with seasoned journalist Gregory Warner. Given the host and platform, the subject matter is unsurprisingly far more serious than your usual comedy pod on all things pyaar. Here, it’s all about stories of falling in love in the face of violence and oppression. The protagonist is Sanjoy Sachdev—a purported matchmaker who ran a safehouse for couples but was arrested in 2019 on charges of wrongful confinement and extortion—alleged by the same couples he was supposedly protecting. Of course, it’s best to experience this podcast in order—here’s the first episode.
What Makes Us Human by Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences: From journalistic storytelling, we now jump headfirst into academia. Cornell’s podcast series covers a variety of topics across different historical periods—within which love comes up frequently. Think of it as an academic anthology of sorts, as there’s a lot of material on the ‘science of love’, love as a mythology, love in the courts etc. to immerse yourself into. A good starting point though is the ‘Colonial Love’ episode, in which gender historian Durba Ghosh examines relationships between British colonial officials and Indian women during the Raj. FYI: This series is a few years old, and only available on Soundcloud.
Dear Sugars by Cheryl Strayed & Steve Almond: If you’ve ever loved too hard, hurt too long, or just felt completely lost, this one’s for you. The original Sugars, bestselling author Cheryl Strayed and writer Steve Almond, bring radical empathy to listener letters about life’s messiest dilemmas—from heartbreak and shame to money and family. Their advice isn’t sugar-coated. We especially recommend the episode on love and finances—where resentment, inequality, and obligation collide with intimacy. It’s compassionate, complex, and cuts right to the core.
RelationShit Advice by Raunaq Rajani: This is not strictly a podcast but we recommend the 60-episode YouTube series hosted by comedian Raunaq Rajani, who is sometimes joined by his comedian friends and celebrities. The show is sort of like a mashup between standup comedy and radio call-ins—but focuses on giving bad relationship advice on purpose to anonymous people who send their questions to the host. This brings home the fact that none of us are saints and we can all do better. Check out this episode with yesteryear’s chocolate boy—Imran Khan.
