This Hindi movie is a pretty straightforward slice-of-life story that tries to give a modern look at what it's like to be a single, professional gay man. It dives into how he understands who he is, the chances he missed out on, and the personal choices he’s made along the way. The director used three parallel timelines to tell the story, which honestly didn't make much sense to me. While the core idea was actually pretty interesting, I really feel like this would have worked way better as a short film considering the point it was trying to make. Still, it wasn't a bad watch. The plot centers on Rachit, a city professional, and his friend Shikhar as they hang out for an evening. Rachit is a polished, urban guy, while Shikhar has more of a "small-town" rustic vibe, and you can really see the contrast between them when they talk. As the night goes on, Rachit starts thinking back to some old memories from a long time ago. He remembers being an intern after college in ...
After a few minutes into the film (About 30 minutes or so), I could not take this movie any more. The lead character's meeting new a person in a different city, one after the other, was becoming too much of a problem for me. I just did not care anymore of where he is going to go next and who is he going to meet. And when you stop caring about what the characters do in their film, there is very little to hold your interest in the film.Breaking off concurrent relationships with an older woman and her son, we are introduced to Daniel, as he prances around London thinking he's God's gift to man and woman. But his freewheeling existence is put into question when his eccentric grandmother, the one person he genuinely cares for, sends him on a wild-goose chase to locate her father's grave. Traveling through Paris, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Belgrade in Serbia and Sofia in Bulgaria, he learns a thing or two about life. He meets new people in every country and invariable forms some sort of sexual relationship with them irrespective of their gender. He discovers that feelings of true romantic love can exist, even for someone who can't reciprocate. He also receives valuable history lessons about his Jewish heritage, which in the past meant very little to him.
As I mentioned before, the moviegoer might find himself trapped and wearied by this repetitively stop-and-go script. What could have been a point of focus feels almost hackneyed by the conclusion. Some changes in Daniel's personality are illustrated nicely. It humbles him to a point where he begins to take pride in his heritage and what his great-grandfather had done to help preserve it. Nevertheless, Daniel is quiet about his new consciousness. The actor playing the part of Daniel does his job fine but when the script itself is flawed, the actors cannot get above the rest. By the time the frustratingly silly ending arrives, it's confirmed that "Shem," which translates to "name" in Hebrew, is just as confused as its protagonist.
If you have been liking the kind of films that I like, then you might want to stay away from this one. (2/10)
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Cheers.