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 documentary starts with us meeting Robin's great granduncle, who also happened to be gay and together they shared a special bond and used to travel together for holidays. An elderly gay man who has never been able to live as freely as Robin himself. He is intrigued by the sense of freedom Robin gets from club chUrch. He then finds some candidates to interview and hear their perspective of the club and what it means for them which includes club regulars, his mother, his boyfriend, club owners, the straight doorman, a pole dancer working there and other patrons of this club.
I feel this was a first attempt by a budding film maker. Firstly, I don't even know what's the purpose of making this documentary. Robin says he wants to explore what the club means for him and how much freedom he can get, but after having seen this documentary, I am not sure how he will get answers to any of these questions. The interview settings seem rather arbitrary, the candidates chosen are flat except maybe a couple like the doorman and his honest mother. The biggest problem is that there are so many people being interviewed in this short under one hour film, that you no longer keep track of who is who and also because the conversations so flat and basic. For someone like me, who is not aware of this club, this film did give me lot o information about an aspect of gay life in Amsterdam which is probably very free and gives an opportunity for visitors to test their limits since nothing is out of bounds. Also it is a short film, so easy to watch, but besides that, I really question the need for such a documentary. (3.5/10)
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