So, about a decade ago, there were these five movies that made up the whole Takumi-kun series. Now, the creators have come back with a six-episode show, with each part running about 25 minutes. I'm guessing they wanted to introduce a newer generation of BL fans to this world, but honestly, it backfired. The whole thing feels incredibly dated, like it’s completely out of touch with how modern BL shows are made today. Between a cast that’s way too crowded and a mountain of different couples to keep track of, the storytelling is just a total train wreck that doesn't make a lick of sense. The whole thing takes place at an all-boys boarding school. You’ve got Gii, who just moved back from the States and is the son of a super wealthy CEO, and he's roommates with Takumi. Right from the very first episode, Gii is basically obsessed, taking every chance he gets to shout his feelings from the rooftops. Takumi is really shy and has no clue how to handle all that heat, so he just doe...
Asif, is a good looking young Muslim man who loves to dress up in drag and perform. The documentary starts with him showing us the death threat emails that he has received. He is popular and successful as his alter ego Asifa Lahore. But behind the expertly applied make-up, she is fighting a major battle on behalf of all those who don't dare to wear their sexuality so openly. Then we see Imran, whose alter ego is Zareena Khan and i looking of love everywhere. She gets lots of proposals from men all the tim, but ultimately they (Muslim married men, in most cases), want to just have sex with her because they feel that since she is in drag, they are still straight. And finally we have Ibrahim, you gay man, who grew up in Mauritius, recently came out and has supportive family and now wants to venture into drag. We see Asif training and nurturing him for his debut. All is not hunky dory though. Asif also wants to hold a walk to bring more prominence in the society for gay asians but is very disappointed when its the Britishers who show up for the march but none of the gay asian community shows up. She is very disheartened. But ultimately, things change for her when she is nominated for Attitude magazine’s pride awards, which she eventually wins as well.
The documentary shows quite a few examples, specially in the case of Zareena Khan, the difficulty for many LGBT Muslims in expressing their true identity. Unlike most documentaries, this one was not boring or bleak. In fact, the characters they picked had interesting stories to tell, good narration and direction; expertly injecting the subject matter with a hefty dose of humour. It is undoubtedly very brave of the three main characters who had the guts to open their hearts out in open for the world to see without fearing for their life. They can be role models for a lot of LGBT youth , not necessarily of Muslim background. In an interview apparently Asifa mentioned “I’m a Muslim, I’m British/Pakistani and I’m also a drag queen. I totally understood the risks and I totally understood the impact that it would have on my life and I decided to do it because the issue is really important to me."
An eye opener for me in various ways, more documentaries like these deserve to be shown on public platforms throughout the world. (6.5/10)
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