GAY

Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan

February 22, 2020

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Supreme Court Justice J. Chandrachud said in the landmark judgement that struck down Section 377 – “What is the ‘order of nature’? State cannot decide the boundaries between what is permissible or not. Section 377 is based on deep-rooted gender stereotypes. It persecutes people. It is a majoritarian impulse to subjugate a sexual minority to live in silence, Decriminalization of homosexuality is only the first step.”

This verdict was delivered on 6^th September 2018 and it took nearly 2 more years for the Hindi Film Industry’s leading, successful and talented Hero to play a full blown Gay character devoid of any stereotypes (that is if you discount the unnecessary nose ring) and mannerisms!!

The movie is more about a dealing with homophobia than the actual act !! Uttar Pradesh is the new flavour of bollywood after Punjab. The plot is about 2 men in love and how the family of one gets around to eventually accept them. The parents of one played by the brilliant Gajaraj Rao and Neena Gupta- their confusion, denial and finally acceptance their son as he is.

It’s the Tripathi family with their family dynamic and crackling repartee that keeps one in splits during the entire 2 hours running time of the movie. Luckily beyond the two kisses between the lovers, there is no overt physical intimacy to make the audience uncomfortable. If I am allowed to say so this film is the Gay version of DDLJ and it also ends with the famous train scene between SRK and Kajol.

The movie belongs to Aayushman Khurana and the surprise is his partner the debutante Jitendra Kumar, they both makes us think without being preachy, technical and downplaying the victim card. After watching this movie I wonder can any mainstream hero match up to the body of work of Aayushman Khurana. Can he ever falter??? I hope the answer to that remains in the negative for times to come.

This movie isn’t for anyone who is homophobic or for someone with a narrow world view and who isn’t willing to accept a contrarian lifestyle. For the rest go enjoy this one !!

Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra in the verdict says,”The LGBTQ community needs the rainbow of hope for the sake of the humanity. They should be allowed to live with dignity and without pretense. This is their journey to dignity, equality and liberty.”

Veere Di Wedding

June 1, 2018

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The last movie that I had gone for First Day First Show was the highly disappointing film of Bhai and that was Tubelight. Today once again it was FDFS to watch Veere Di Wedding with my friend in tow; incidentally we both are currently enjoying the annual bachelorhood. So we enter the theatre which was not so surprisingly full and we realise that we must be the oldest people in the auditorium who had come to watch this film at this time of the weekday. We were expecting to be entertained and we most definitely were!!

To get to the basics; the plot is about 4 school buddies and the issues they are facing a decade later in their lives from divorce to dysfunctional families to overbearing parents to commitment issues also parenthood; and their coming together for the wedding of Kalu i.e. Kalindi played by Kareena Kapoor Khan. This film is based in upper echelons of Delhi Society with glam served in dollops.

This movie is the female version of, if I may say so of Dil Chahta Hai and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. If Sex and the City will ever have a desi version then this is it, you can find traits of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte in the leading ladies. These four gurls i.e. Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam K. Ahuja, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania have a chemistry that is genuine and the sparks of their warmth, irreverence and friendship illuminate the screen.

The language, feel and the act is modern everyday lingo and we can find characters like these all around us. Dialogues that are so real that can’t be reproduced here. You have got to watch the movie to realise what I mean.

However this movie isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, some may find it offensive and unrelatable but I guess that’s the part of movies that they are not catering to the lowest denominating factor and there is an audience for all sorts of films. The only tad problem is the in your face brand promotions in the movie.

With a running time of two hours it is never boring and for most parts it left me in splits. The supporting cast is brilliant with Sumit Vyas as the harried fiancé, Vivek Mushran as the Gay Chacha. The movie belongs to the four girls, so go watch this laugh riot !!