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 film starts with Older man Joe going to meet his sister Ethel on his birthday, but you see that they have clear friction between them and Ethel can't wait to get out. Told through flashbacks, we see Joe meeting Tom when they were both teenagers in the countryside. Joe is quiet and socially awkward while Tom is sociable, gregarious and outgoing. Their friendship quickly turns into chemistry and a very strong romance. Ethel, who is very close to her brother Joe is happy to se him come out of his shell but when he finds out that they are lovers, she is completely disgusted and can't fathom the idea. Tom's father reacts in the same way. But Joe and Tom are undaunted as they resolve to live as a couple whatever the family think. Over a period of time Ethel has still not come to terms and the siblings are increasingly estranged. Ethels' son John tries his best to make his mother make sense of Joe's sexuality. But by the time she makes sense of any of it. Joe is diagnosed with cancer in its later stages and doesn't have long to live. This bombshell changes everything and in a very sad way brings together the estranged family members with Ethel not just accepting them but also promising to be there for Tom even after Joe is gone.
Told through multiple flashbacks, the essence of the story is to show how a family can be torn apart just because someone is different. Sure Ethel doesn't really have a strong reason to despise gay, (except this is just how she was brought up), but sticking with it fo nearly 40/50 years is a bit much. A little more reasoning would have helped, especially since her grown up son is close to his uncle and could have tried to smooth the relationship. The love story between Tom and Joe both as teenagers and in old age in endearing, romantic, subtle and pure. But it tests your patience. There are many parts of the film that are extremely extremely slow and nothing much happens. The director has tried to show a realistic moving portrayal of a gay relationship here, but at the runtime of almost two hours, many scenes run a lot longer with people speaking sooooo slowly. The love story between Tom and Joe in their teen years has a real and natural chemistry and the actors do a good job. The older actors, in my opinion were a bit of a let down. In many scenes it felt they were acing as if they are in a play and it felt very rehearsed. The film has its heart in the right place, but its does get indulgent at places and this is when, in today's day and age, it's hard to hold audience attention. (5.5/10)
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