Badhai Do

 

Badhai Do is another valiant effort for acceptance of the LGBTQIA++ community by cis het folk.  This film is based on the concept of Marraige of Convinience often considered as a means of hoodwinking the hetero society to escape homophobia and the gross discrimination and hate that follows it. A queer man and a woman decide to get married to satisfy the socio-cultural hetero norms to please their family, community, and society outside their bedrooms. They live their seperate homosexual lives so as to create this "win-win" situation so all parties are happy. 

In this premise, Badhai Do uses the unusual arrangement and the events that occur within it to create humor and entertainment. The film makes most of the situation by bringing out difficult details of two individuals with different mindsets trying to make it work for everyone outside their lives but themselves. The conflicting gender based roles within the construct of a hetero family, the sharing of expenses, answers to be given to the society at large for their partners, and the pretense of being a couple to look "normal" and be accepted: it's all there.

 No doubt the script is sharp with perfect dialogues timed immaculately. But personally, I felt a strange sense of melancholy throughout the film. Issues like the effort, mental and psychological trauma, the acting and pretense, and denial to be oneself of the two gay people are just not taken into account. Both the lead actors are straight, obviously, so that sense of deprivation, suffocation and suffering is just not being realised. It's as if a straight guy and straight girl are sharing an apartment. This is deeply disturbing because the film uses humor at the expense of two lives that are not really living and breathing as they should. Also, even in such an arrangement, somehow, god knows how, but somehow, the woman is suffering more than the man. Though both of them are queer, patriarchy will not let go no matter what the circmstance is.

I dont see why there is such a monumental effort,yet again, in another queer hindi film, to beg for acceptance. The arguments of commercial viability and social entertainment seem important. But will a straight man live and pretend to be gay and stay with another straight man ? Will two cis het women be able to do it ? If that can't even be imagined, then how is it possible for two queer individuals ? Exactly when is this toxic nonsense going to end ? And the grand ending of acceptance and happily ever after is infuriating.

Good effort by the cast and bla bla bla .............Whatever.....No Badhaai here..... 

Its high time India knows everything it has to about LGBTQIA++ and moves on to live and let live. They don't get the luxury of getting convinced. Enough time and effort has gone into this. ENOUGH.