So India’s first mainstream Bollywood Gay Romantic Comedy hit the big screens this Friday and what a joie de vivre it was.
The makers of Shubh Mangal Zyaada Savdhan deserve a standing ovation for picking up a taboo topic like Homosexuality and giving the Indian audience a wholesome entertainer. It’s a movie I could have happily watched with Mom and Dad but unfortunately we don’t stay in the same city.
Back to the film. This Bollywood offering is fun, farcical in parts but absolutely entertaining. The plot goes horse speed – galloping, with no boring bits.
And all the actors were so fantastic – Ayushman as the out & open boyfriend and Jitendra Kumar as the closeted & nerdy Allahabad gay boy. Gajraj Rao steals the show as the “scientist” dad who wants to “cure” his son’s gay away but in the end tries to remedy his own homophobia. Neena Gupta is brilliant as the paradoxical mom – both practical and emotional, the mom who is ready to adapt to the situations at hand. Manu Rishi as the underrated “chacha” who is bullied by his older brother. Oh well, basically, everybody was damn good.
What’s really laudable is that the writers didn’t fall into the trap of trying to justify their theme too much and so they steer clear from the danger of becoming too preachy. It’s not just a gay romantic comedy, but also serves as a satire on how Indian parents force their kids into unhappy marriages, gay or straight.
I won’t go on and on. The reactions of the audience in the theatre spoke for the film. People were loudly laughing at regular intervals at the witty writing and jokes. There were two or three moments were most of the audience was even clapping! It felt so good to be watching a LGBT film where the audience was applauding what it saw. Well, that’s Bengaluru folks for you.
5/5 to the makers, 4 for the film and 1 for their heart ❤️ It really needs a lot of heart to make a film like this.