#chahaa vani

[kaqcuille]

Apparently!

Kartik didn't actually play Manjulika mostly, it was a stunt double named Pia Soni, who was the faceless dancer in the intro, and then the masked manjulika. She also claims to have done the climax tandav to the Sonu Nigam song, and in her comments under her reels says that Kartik's face was added using vfx.

That means he just did the dance as Debu in the green dress during the flashback and just at the end while attaining moksha apparently

Idk why this made me so sad like I got really attached and impacted by a mainstream actor playing a transwoman's role or a feminine role and they couldn't even care to have him do the full thing! Couldn't he have trained in classical dance and done it himself? He's trained hard for his other movies like Chandu champion so why was this done like this?

I mean I hope this lady is not telling the truth fully because I don't wanna believe he didn't do like 90% of it, especially the dance as the ghost

But she has pictures with the cast and director and photos of getting ready

Maybe she was just a body double due to Kartik's double role in the same scene?

Idek why this is so upsetting to me ugh but I thought yall would understand this very very niche thing lol

Anyway here's her Instagram account you can look at her bts reels and comments: https://www.instagram.com/piaaasoni24?igsh=MWEzZ253a3A3dGFsbA==

I've literally dm-ed her to confirm 😭

Hey! Sorry we took a while to answer this, but you raised many important points that we (the mods) had to discuss and come up with an answer that covered everything we wanted to say.

So, first of all, we agree with your main point! It would have been much nicer if Kartik Aaryan had learned and performed the dance himself. This movie is far from perfect at representing various identities, not just trans. You would have noticed this yourself, but bollywood has a track record of being bad with representation and the movie itself does other reps very wrong. To name just a couple, overall Bengali rep (randomly using Bengali words and sounds intermixed with Hindi) and using bits of Hukkus Phukkus (a Kashmiri song) out of cultural context. It's not a movie where the makers put a lot of thought into any of the identities they represented!

So then, how do we at the kaqcuille look at this movie? When we interact which SKTKS or BB3, we do it not because either are 'good rep' but its because we find potential for exploration in their stories and character arcs. We've adopted them because we want them and their queer identities treated right in a way that appeals to real queer people (us).

It is understandable if you feel betrayed by the double's IG post when Debu's dance was such an important point in your gender journey. That frustration is understandable, it would have held so much more meaning had KA did it himself. That being said, doubles and small time actors rarely get recognition for the work they put in and a part of us is ok if the double gets due credit for a standard industry job that she did in a mainstream movie!

We also understand having high expectations of KA as an actor because of the work he puts in in his dance numbers and movies in general. But we recently found out that for dance sequences in SKTKS where his abs show, KA was starved and dehydrated for hours and that left a bad taste in all our mouths. We had to take a moment before we could go back to appreciating the work he put in for SKTKS. It is valid to have high expectation of actors and we wish doubles and extras were unionized and getting due credit for all they do and what actors are expected of by current movie standards didn't come at the cost of exploitation. But we must remember when we interact with Bollywood's content, that there is an underlying exploitative, capitalist industry and we are going to see intersection of a myriad of issues when mainstream Bollywood chooses an identity or storyline for its character(s).

We understand and agree with your main points and hope this answer provides some more dimensions to think about as you wade through this 💜

[kaqcuille]

The Haldi Song is absolutely the culmination of the Sonu/Titu arc in that movie.

Sonu and Titu (from Sonu ke Titu ki Sweety) ended up dating and getting married with 3 dogs and cozy house.

Also, Tera Yaar Hoon Main is so fucking LGBT+ coded like, it screams 'I am in love with my straight bestie (who is the closet) and I am PINNING'

Also Titu is so 'closeted gay' coded and Sonu is so fucking bisexual that I am not even kidding like what the writers think their ending is, in my ending they are happy together.

And it was during that Haldi scene where Sonu looks at Titu with pinning yet sad eyes that Sweety realises that Sonu is so gay for her fiance and she applies Haldi on him too? Like that scene could be expanded and Sonu ke Titu ki Sweety could've been the perfect gay romance with a supporting girl bestie but Noooo all women are gold diggers and hence the writers ruined her whole character

Also Titu searching for Sonu in the Baarat scene is so fucking romantic like bro you ain't waiting for the woman you are marrying you are looking for your 'bff' and Sonu helping Titu up on the horse while looking heartbroken and not looking at Titu is so meaningful. And then when he starts dancing for the love and friendship that he and Titu shared is such a nice moment while Titu looking at Sonu fondly. Like ughhh. And Sonu grabbing Titu's arm and both of their expressions changing (Titu looking fondly but not smiling and Sonu finally smiling a real smile) and Titu throwing money at Sonu and dancing like never before. The vindicated smile that Sweety gave to Titu during the Varmala scene and Titu just not letting the Varmala go.

You expect me to believe that this is is just bros being bros????

(And this is just one song)