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 ...
Russell, a wannabe drag queen, breaks up with his boyfriend of many years and moves to the rustic countryside to be with his grandma. She has been living alone by herself and is absolutely against the idea of old age home. Initially Russell's plan is to take borrow her car but something makes him stay. In the only gay bar of the area, he makes some friends and starts doing drag for some money. He slowly starts to fall for one of the bartenders and their relationship is a bit all over the place. When Russell's mother shows up, she is aghast by the idea of her son taking care of the mother but eventually realizes. It seems at some point Russell wanted to be an actor and everyone around him had been very supportive but the drag scene is not working for many. Russell himself is not very sure. His relations with his grandma improves daily who is more than happy to have someone by her side. The end is weird where Russell moves back to the city to pursue his dream of drag and the grandma is left to die alone in her ballet shoes, a tribute that Russell gives to her in his performance too.
Russell is trying to struggle to find his place in the world by revisiting his past, and almost trying to create a do-over. He plans to initially get some money from his grandma quickly turns to taking care of her and loving her. Also the budding romance feels like a fresh start but is not very clear what's the nature of it. It felt toxic in the brief scenes that I saw. There are a lot of drag sequences where Russell is lip synching to the songs. So for viewers who enjoy it, this could be a hoot but for me, it was literally a drag. Performance wise, I felt Russell was a bit rusty initially but eventually I started to warm up. The grandma was definitely the soul of the film. I actually also enjoyed the mother's character who was always supportive of her son. Film is very simple and straight forward at the core but fails to make an impression or give a message. The erroneous ending doesn't help the cause either. (5/10)
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