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 landscape of Brooklyn is quickly changing and we meet Quique, a Nuyorican barber navigating his life. One day he sees an attractive Irish man on the street and feels attracted to him. We get to know him better, where he lives with his family and sometimes hooks up with guys online since he is DL. He has a decent group of friends but all wrapped up in the bullshit of macho-ism. One day, the Irish guy Kevin ends up helping Quique's mom with groceries and Quique is surprised to find him at his home. Anyway, soon a nice friendship develops between the two and they start hanging out fueling rumors. Only one of his cousins understand that and is supportive. But Quique's pursuit of love and self-acceptance becomes a complex odyssey through layers of sexuality, family dynamics, friendship, race, and class. He likes Kevin an they have great chemistry but somehow he cannot accepts own sexuality thereby snubbing him off multiple times. Kevin tries his best but he eventually gets beaten by thugs, he has had enough and he leaves the town. The film ends on a positive note a year later, where we see Quique getting more comfortable with his sexuality.
As I mentioned before, we have seen stories like this is a closet gay man trying to come with his sexuality but not confident, mostly because he doesn't want his friends to find out and that is ok. But at least, give a little newer perspective. Nothing much changes in terms of that here. Brooklyn and its changing landscape is featured but never discussed in forefront. Also, as I mentioned it feels very disjointed at times. Scenes suddenly come out of nowhere, especially the scenes where Quique's friends, when they individually meet Kevin act as if they have known each other forever. Meanwhile as audience we are never shown if they ever even met. Even the way Kevin and Quique's relationship is developed, you don't feel that much of a chemistry between the two. This film about the "barrio boy" falling in love with the Irishman but losing him in the most stupid way possible is just too generic. It could have been so much better, especially when you have an extremely gorgeous actor playing the title role and he has a beautiful smile to die for. Also what was up with random side stories of Quique going for audition, or Kevin sleeping with a girl and random stuff like that. It was just not a cohesively written script. (4.5/10)
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