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 ...
The story is about a gay couple Tony and Leo. Tony is a social worker who works with lower section of society (drug peddlers, convicts, hospitals, abused women etc.) and he is very passionate about his job and very dedicated. Leo, on the other hand is a financial advisor and is very much into career and money. They have been together for a while. In one of the many cases, once a woman leaves her stillborn baby in a hospital. While taking care of the kid, Tony gets really close to the baby Dylan. When Leo proposes marriage, he accepts but also asks if he would consider adopting Dylan. Leo is very reluctant because he has barely accepted the idea of marriage. Ultimately he gives into pressure. But because of gay adoption legalities involved in the system, Leo has to adopt baby as a single parent with Tony later applying for guardianship. Tony becomes a full time home maker while Leo is fully focussed on his job. But Tony’s old cases come to haunt him and he gets killed in a gun shot. Leo’s world is turned upside down because he was never ready to take care of baby. In fact, he wants to run away from the baby. But with support from his friends and Tony’s colleagues, he gets over the fear and finally accepts Dylan as his own son.
So clearly the story has enough potential, but where do I even begin with the flaws. The beginning is flawed. We see 4-5 different scenarios completely unrelated to each other before we can even figure out what’s going on. And the camera angles are so weird with completely focussing on head shots of the characters that it gets very distracting and flat and annoying. The photography is very uneven. The lead actors had potential but the director IMO didn’t do a good job of extracting performances from them. An independent film has its constraints and I do understand that but there is no excuse for bad timing and really poor editing. Talking of which, the film is pretty long and totally lacks professional creativity. The makers could have gone into the details of bureaucracy of adoption for gay parents but instead they focus on personal tussle between the couple. A welcome effort in terms of story but totally thumbs down for execution.
Watch it only if you don’t have anything else better to see or if you have money to use the same story and adopt it better. (4/10)
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