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 ...
Set in Sheffield, England, 16 year old Jamie lives with his mother and aspires to become a drag queen. Even though he is out and comfortable with it at school, it doesn't stupor him from occasionally getting bullied by other his classmates or by a very conservative teacher. But with support of his best friend is Pritti and his very encouraging mother, he keeps going. Jamie wants to go to school prom in drag but knows nothing about it. Enter an older drag queen, and now Jamie's mentor Hugo who gives him confidence to try out his drag acts in his club as a precursor to the big prom finale. With bit of struggle, Jamie manages to perform but everyone finds out and his school strictly prohibits him from attending school in drag. Meanwhile, Jamie, who has had a wonderful relationship with his mother, finds out truth about how his father wants nothing to have to do with him, which breaks his heart. But again with support of his near and dear ones, Jamie manages to break taboo by showing up in prom as Jamie in a dress and not drag, thereby challenging the social norms and even forcing them to be accepted.
The film started off really well but at almost 2 hours of running length, I will be honest, At one point after an hour, I started losing interest. Its hard to pin point exactly where, but at some points it felt dragging a bit. Surprisingly I actually enjoyed most of the musical numbers. They were every well choreographed and took us into the minds of the characters. Though the story is about Jamie, the best moments and the heart of the film lies in the relationship he shares with his mother Maragret. Anyone should be so lucky to have a mother like her who goes out of her way to make her son special every single time. The last scene when Jamie sends her the prom picture is real short but that touched a chord with me and I found that emotion so beautiful and necessary. Protti, as Jamie's best friend provides the right support that we would expect from a friend. And now lets talk about Jamie. The actor does a fabulous job portraying Jamie's anguish and struggle. He is much better when he is singing and dancing, but somewhere he is still a bit raw when it comes to dialogue delivery. Overall, the film is a musical (not my favorite) that has loads of enthusiasm and a good heart, but lacks finesse and has its moments that could be done better. It's still definitely worth your time though. (7/10)
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