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 makers take us through interviews of some heavily buffed men, who unapologetically admit to being very subtracted to muscular men and hot men. They make it quite clear that a hot body can get them more friends, more sex and more attention. Most of them agreed that they know its superficial but they all enjoyed it. Some of them recount their experiences of not being given a second look, till they decide to take matters in their hand, get all buffed up and viola, suddenly they are being invited to parties, and orgies and friends. Sadly, I am not sure why the documentary film makers did not use this as an opportunity to deep dive in to the psychology of this obsession. There are a couple moments when the film pretends to expose a serious topic, for example drugs or eating disorders, and the only way you can tell is because the incessant background club music pauses for a few seconds. Even the interviews with the psychiatrist or docs is more about fueling the fire by showing botox and even their own fascination with the perfect body.
If anything, this was a good promo ad for gyms around the world, because what the makers here make us feel that if you don't have that perfect body, you are no one to anyone in the gay world. I am not saying this is not untrue, but I would like to think that a lot of people are beyond that too. But I would have loved if makers went into bigger questions rather than ignoring them like why does there seem to be a racial divide? What are the complications of steroids and plastic surgeries? What psychological or social issues lead some gay men to go to dangerous extremes? What influence do the buff images in gay porn have? Etc etc. I guess their idea was to just get some really hot looking men into one frame, and they do succeed in it. But overall, the documentary is pointless. It tells us gay men stuff that we already know very well. It would have been valuable to go deeper into the psychology rather than making people like me feel even more alienated. (4/10)
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