Director Hitesh Kewalya and his team might not have put in a big effort into naming Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan but the script of the recently released Bollywood film more than makes up for it. The film is innovative in sensitising audiences to the idea of homosexual love through the medium of an out-and-out commercial movie that is bound to make a strong case about its ideas to audiences at large.
Starring the ever-brilliant Ayushmann Khurrana and continuing the legacy of films like Fire (1998), Dostana (2008) and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019), the film has made a big and visible effort at normalising romantic relationships between two consenting adults, not conforming to the heterosexual idea of making love.
Jitendra Kumar (Aman Tripathi) plays Khurrana’s (Kartik Singh) love interest in the film. And it goes without saying that their on-screen chemistry is so good, it could give serious competition to some of Bollywood's heterosexual reel life couples. With the Badhaai Ho duo of Gajraj Rao (Shankar Tripathi) and Neena Gupta (Sunaina Tripathi), playing parents to Jitendra a.k.a Aman , the comedy territory of the film is in safe hands as well. Rajni Tripathi (Aman’s sister played by Maanvi Gagroo), called ‘Goggle’, is a delight to watch with her infectious laughter and justified rantings and bickering.
The beauty with which the post-coming-out, behind-the-door negotiation with parents has been written and performed is a realistic portrayal of the struggles of not-so-elite queer people. Shankar Tripathi tries his very best to eliminate the ‘worm’ of queerness from his son’s head which had him puking at the sight of his son stealing a quick kiss from his boyfriend Kartik on a train.
From trying to wash the ‘gay’ness off him with a waterpipe to suicide threats to creatively using rebirth antics to defy the logic of being born gay, Aman's father leaves no stone unturned. But his scientifically-adept son retorts with arguments like, “aapka oxytocin pyaar, mera oxytocin bimaari” (your oxytocin is love, and my oxytocin is a disease) and coupled Kartik’s determination the couple manage to stand tall in the face of physical violence, shaming and wrongful police prosecution inflicted on them in the movie.
The structure of the film revolves around the making and breaking of Goggle’s wedding (which, by the way, is a parallel commentary on young girls' marriages with much older men) and the event has been cleverly leveraged to bring out the everyday hassles and family debates of the middle class through frequent breakouts of inheritance fights and unfair power dynamics in families. Goggle misses no opportunity to exert her individuality and rights in front of family members, whether it be in choosing to arrive at the baaraat riding on the horse, refusing to subscribe to the stone-age notion of girls being paraaya dhan (encumbered property), touching to-be in-laws' feet or standing up for her brother’s love by facilitating the logistics of a disguised wedding.
By weaving in the past love interests of Aman's parents cleverly into the narrative, director Kewalya has tried to hint at the staggering set of problems that come with arranged marriages. The use of a black cauliflower as a prop to symbolise the brains of the so-called educated class infected with worms of homophobia, sexism and casteism is wholly commendable and a never-seen-before symbolic device.
The film stands out for moving away from the stereotypical portrayal of gay characters in mainstream Hindi cinema. Together, Ayushmann and Jitendra make a visibly conscious effort at staying away from the stereotypical, effeminate portrayal of gay characters while ensuring that they are not drowning out the nuances of machoism. They drive home the message that masculinity and queerness are not mutually exclusive. The lovers are vulnerable and chivalrous at the same time, and let life happen to them. Kartik wears a nose ring, stands up for his love, gets physically assaulted and sheds happy tears on his victory. Aman is the practical one who does not wear his heart on his sleeve, but has innovative ways of coming out in a family wedding.
The humour comes across as misplaced at times, but the sincere core of the story carries the day. The film has tried to engage in an honest conversation with audiences by taking pride in what it is talking about. Towards the end, when Aman tells his mother to closely watch the marriage because many such weddings are on the way, it seems almost as if he is talking to the audience directly, challenging them to be ready for a slew of such movies celebrating non-conformist love stories.
(Bhavya Arora is a student of Hansraj College, Delhi University)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.