Skip to main content

377 Ab Normal (Hindi/English)

By Golu
There are only a handful of gay themed films that have come out from India. Most people are aware of section 377 of Indian Penal code in India according to which  being gay was criminalized. This film is a fictional dramatization of the historic September 2018 ruling from India Supreme Court decriminalised homosexuality and reinstated the fundamental rights of the LGBTQ community.

The film starts with final arguments being given by the two lawyers in front of the bench of supreme court judges. To support the argument, we are shown a bit of LGBT history, starting with Arif Jafar, the first man to be charged with Section 377 in 2001. Although an AIDS activist, he is taken to jail and gets sentenced for few years. We get to see his ordeals there. Next we see stories of some of the other individuals, who are primary in the petition that gets filed in Supreme Court. We meet Pallav, a teenager coming to terms with his sexuality but being rejected by his family reaches out to counselors. Shalmali is lesbian and even though her mother is psychologist, she struggles to come to terms with her daughter's sexuality. Rounding them off is a rick guy Keshav (apparently based on a real character), who is pushed to fight for this discrimination after the Orlando gay club shootings. The film ends with the historic judgement form the supreme court.

This film needs to be told and people need to be made aware of what happened but sadly the film overall is a huge letdown and disappointment. The story is half-baked, the direction is shoddy, characters are one-dimensional lacking depth. The film barely touches upon the arduous and difficult task the actual real life petitioners took to bring justice to the country's LGBT community. The lesbian story seems forced and so does Pallav's story. Keshav's character is never really clarified on who he is and how exactly did he lead this whole petition and drove it. All of these petitioners just sit in silence and we never actually get to hear their voice. Acting, I would say is below average from most people making them sometimes look caricaturist (including stalwarts like Tanvi Azmi). This film seems to have been made in rush, so as to no one beats them to make something similar before these folks. As I said before, its an amateur attempt but brave at the same time, because this story needs to be told.

The five petitioners, who actually took this case up to the Supreme Court in real life in 2018 and landed a historic verdict that would overturn 150 years of oppression, are modern day heroes who deserve a better film than this. I really really hope some really capable director does absolute justice to this very import historical event for LGBTQ community in India. (4/10)
Labels:

Comments

luigi43 said…
Really umbearable ! Their culture , respectable like others , is too far from eastern way of showbiz above all.
June 1, 2019 at 3:16 AM
Golu said…
It is definitely different. It is my culture :)
August 2, 2019 at 1:41 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

By Golu
Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...
5 comments
Read more

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

By Golu
Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...
3 comments
Read more

One Summer Night (Korean)

By Golu
I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more