I agree, even today a lot of Indian marriages are based on this. I mean there is some interaction, but mostly the parents want to make sure your not some loser, that you have a job , good family history etc...
like you said good and bad.
My great grandfather was my great grandmother’s second husband after the first on ran off during the depression. The second marriage was a marriage of convenience.
My great grandmother was struggling to keep her farm and Granddad number two was able to save her farm and combine it with his. They went on to have 2 more children and spent the rest of their lives together.
I have several acquaintances who are Hindu. It's striking that the one love match has worked out well and the children are a success. The arranged marriage is a disaster, and the kid is jailbait, which is unusual for a Hindu family. Then again, this is just anecdotal.
I think people should "arrange" their own marriages; courting seriously with an eye to marriage, and looking at those important marital issues before getting sexally involved. That is what well-off people always did before the advent of birth control and "free" sex (trust me; every fig leaf has a price tag).