Skip to main content

Rainbow Rishta (Hindi/English) (Documentary Series)

India hasn't produced that many gay series or shows to talk about (although my blog will probably give you a different statistic). Amazon Prime's 'Rainbow Rishta' comes in as a breath of fresh air. At a time when queer relationship portrayal and dating is somehow focused on negatives, this show depicts life with all its burdens, joys, and the need to keep going on, day after day. It leaves you with a sense of hope, of finding moments of relief in everyday strife, and embracing life for everything it has to offer. Featuring six episodes focusing on three queer couples and three singles, this series gives a more balanced view IMO but also gives you hope.

Gauhati-based lesbian couple Aneez and Sanam, tired of finding space for themselves in their parental homes, are in search of a flat. But their being a couple keeps becoming a deal-breaker, as they go through one refusal after another from prospective landlords. Trinetra Haldar, an MBBS doctor-turned-actor whose trans character left such a strong impact in the second season of ‘Made In Heaven’, speaks of how hard it is to find that special someone who will accept her for who she is. Her story, though, I felt was sort of left midway. She is not mentioned or featured at all in the last two episodes. Once the layers of make-up are off, Drag Queen Lush Monsoon who is such a hit on the gay clubbing circuit in Delhi, is Ayushmann, who keeps wondering just how he will reveal all to his parents. Will he ever be able to? Also what about dating, will the real Ayushman ever be able to be as comfortable as the drag persona is? Sadam, who lives in Imphal, is getting ready to meet someone new from Mumbai: will he be lucky this time around? He has a heavy baggage when his ex lover left him dead with an overdose, so for him to trust anyone is a huge deal.  And finally we have the gay couple Soham & Suresh. They are looking at how to keep working on their stable relationship. Also the primal desire to be a parent, and bring up children, is paramount in their relationship causing some stress. And finally we have intersex Daniella and her prospective groom Joel as they gear up for a wedding ceremony, choosing the most affordable invitation cards, the perfect wedding dress, and finally, the ceremony itself: it is a dream-come-true for the former, coming out of a traumatic past, and advancing towards a future where all, hopefully, be well.

The varied mix of personalities, experiences, plights, and desires shows a full spectrum of life. The show strives because of the six fantastic subjects the makers have chosen and they have done a commendable job of picking most of the folks around the spectrum while also trying to show their own individual struggles. Thankfully, the series doesn’t either dramatize or sensationalize anyone’s stories, but rather approaches them with realism. We do see a hear a lot of back stories especially around Trinetra, Daniella and Sadam, but the show in its limited time, doesn't give us a lot of time to connect with the heavier moments of their past trauma. I understand that maybe the idea was to give hope and that makes sense, but it would also have benefice to see more of family's involvement and acceptance (if, at all) like we see with the beautiful wedding of Danielle and Joel. Despite, Supreme Court of India recently ruling out , yet again, that same sex marriage is still illegal in India. But hey, at least the step is taken in the right direction that we get to see LGBTQ+ people living happily and freely as their authentic selves.  At the end of the day all everyone wants is to be loved and this series beautifully shows the power of love and acceptance, no matter who you are. Personally, for me this was a very welcome effort from the makers and thanks to a platform like Prime to release this. Hopefully more people to get to seeing this and maybe this is an indication that urban Indian society is moving towards a welcome liberalism. (7.5/10)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin...

Sei no Gekiyaku (Japanese) [Dangerous Drugs of Sex]

Every person has their own unique way of dealing with loss. This film is as much a psychological thriller as it is a soft porn BDSM portrayal of two young men that makes the film overall horrifying as well as humane. It is really hard to describe the genre of this film in one word. Its important not that the film has some really disturbing scenes so if you go into seeing this film, please proceed with caution. Although any sexual non-consensual activity is not ok, this film has its won strange way of showing that suicide is not the only solution to all life's problems. Makoto is a regular office goer, who just finds out that his girlfriend is probably cheating on him. ON top of it, his parents sudden death coming back from a trip that he forced them to take, he gets completely dejected and decides to commit suicide. Unknown to him, he is saved by mysterious man Yoda Ryoji, and he wakes up finding himself tied up in leather and belts in a very BDSM setting. This mysterious saver soo...

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who ...