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 ...
Han Zi Gao was born as Han Man Zi. He was well known for his beauty and during times of war, he always managed to escape because of that. Around 554, when he was 16-years-old, he met the future Emperor Wen of Chen, by then only a general. Chen was deeply attracted to Han Zi Gao's breath-taking beauty and urged him to go with him, promising the boy a life of wealth. Ever the clever boy, Han Man Yi agrees to serve him and Chen Zi Hua is changing his name into Han Zi Goa as a sign that they are going to be connected for the rest of their lives. They both start to take care of each other's need including physical. The general also starts to teach him fighting, martial arts, music etc. And what starts as a master-slave relationship soon turns into a quiet love story. Of course the relationship is not taken good by either general's wife or his sister, who wants Zi Gao for herself. As it is General has trust issues and we see some misunderstandings but eventually he promises to Zi Gao that if and when he becomes emperor, he will make him the queen.
The film, to be honest, at one point got very confusing because there were way too many names in the subtitles, and I couldn't keep a track of whether it was name of a person or a place or what was going on. The film moved from scene to scene very random so it was also difficult to keep a track whether it's a continuation of sort or we have moved beyond a few years or months. Clearly the 2 men were deeply in love, stuff that pure love is made of but the general couldn't help his jealousy. He always felt that Zi Gao will leave him for some woman or someone else. But that never happened. There are no kiss or love making scenes between the two men but they share good chemistry with their eyes, their dialogues, that you can tell that they deeply care for each other and are in love. They both were good actors and had good chemistry. I just wish the subtitles I had with me were clearer.
At just over an hour of length, this was good time spent watching a period gay love story, which also happens to be true. Decent, not great. (6/10)
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