#indian movies on amazon prime

[lyricalsakura]

Congrats My Ex || Madness Overloaded, Treat for the Eyes...well...that's it.

A treat for the eyes. Not for the soul - A nice attempt to blend Indian and Thai culture.

Hoooooo boy! Where do I start?

From the moment I saw the trailer I knew what to expect. I knew what kind of film it is going to be and even though I wanted to be wrong, I am not. It's a rom-com and as cringe as I thought it would be. But I am not disappointed. In fact, the minus points of this film is also the plus points.

Spoiler Alert: Proceed with Caution

So, Risa (Bella Ranee) finds out that she is the wedding planner of her ex boyfriend (Arun/Mahir Pandhi). Ouch!

And then as if it is not hurtful enough, the emergency photographer she had to hire is actually another ex (Tim/Bright). Wowzers!

When asked how stereotypical melodramatic rom-com you want it to be ? They really said HELL YES!

From the Indian soap opera like sequences, to overly dramatic horse riding to overacting sidekicks to garbage dialogues, try-hard-to-make-people-laugh slapstick comedic moments it had everything!!!

This is me when I see my bestie making a fool of herself before her crush

But still I enjoyed everything. Why? It was fun to watch a nice amalgamation of the two cultures.

Bright in Sherwani

I have a little crush on Anahita Bhooshan ngl

The Bollywood style dance number

And the depiction of Indian wedding, well more like typical North Indian (mostly Punjabi style, although Sangeet is now almost a part of all kind of Indian weddings) upper class traditional wedding.

This is Karan Johar style but minus the extreme emotional parts.

I was this close to tear my hair in the scene where Arun is riding (get your minds out of the gutter, he is literally lying akimbo on the car trying to stop it - talk about Bollywood...) the bonnet of the car but I was also snorting with laughter.

The dream sequence where Risa is getting married to Arun and Monica is slapping her repeatedly is my flashback to overtly melodramatic soap operas. As much as I was cringing hard, I was also having fun as the film is sarcastically making fun of it. I was both laughing and crying.

Honestly, there is not much story here. The only thing you see is the grandeur. Don't come here expecting much acting and plotline. And no expectations. It's a one time watch film. But I would applaud the makers of it for even bringing it to existence. I hope we get more good stories that reflects more of the two countries and the cultures.

Also posted on MDL

[insignificantstrawberry]

I’m better than the astronauts from the I.S.S. horror movie on amazon prime because I didn’t NEED to be blasted up a billion centimetres into orbit and see the planet turn to know that borders aren’t real and governments won’t save you and we просто нужно помнить о том, что нужно держаться вместе.

[maysshortmoviereviews]

Mast Mein Rehne Ka (2023)

A man chooses an old widower's home for his first robbery, kicking off a set of events that have them both look at life in a new way and with new companions in the starkness of the city of Mumbai.

An original, heart felt, thought provoking and simple story about getting old, friendships, lost opportunities and struggle to survive. I absolutely loved it. It is certainly original and these days when it is hard to come across something new, this must be commended. The two leads, as usual, are great but I was very impressed by Abhishek Chauhan and Monika Panwar. I hope I see more work by them in the future. They were very good in their role.

I highly recommend this if you are looking for something original, authentic and has a heartfelt message. It is on Amazon Prime.

[rickchung]

My Old Ass (dir. Megan Park).

It's much more of a family-oriented bisexual teen romance set and shot in Ontario's Lake Country masked as a high-concept coming-of-age drug comedy about meeting your older self. There's a lot of sweetly charming scenes exploring the pivotal time in between adolescence ending and becoming a young adult in the world. Park balances some fun character performances and dynamics. However, it's hard to imagine two women who look and act less like the same person at different ages than Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza.

[collectingtoday]

7. What is your Dream Job?

To be Acting and Known As The Leading Face of the OTT platform around the world.

Amen.

[agnilyrics]

🎬🏏✨ December 1, 2023 – A Day of Cinematic Marvels, Sporting Feats, and Trailer Unveils! 🎥🍿 From the historic $1 Million premiere of #Animal to the thrilling #INDvAUS T20 on JioCinema, India is ablaze with entertainment. Plus, catch the highly-anticipated #Salaar trailer! 🌟🏆

[driftpost]

Best Movies and Series Releasing on OTT in November 2023

Movies and Series Releasing on Ott: We have so many movies and TV shows coming right away for our entertainment. In today’s era, it is hard to find which show is releasing on which Ott and when. From our nostalgic favourite show Takeshi’s Castle to the thriller series The Railway Man we have made a list of Upcoming TV shows and Movies releasing on Ott with their release date.

[usertoxicyaoi]

also! a very good desi gl movie that hit the bollywood mainstream that i would reeeeally rec is ek ladki ko dekha toh aisa laga (2019) available on netflix!

The Absence of India in Discussions on Queer Asian Media

So, yesterday @lurkingshan tagged me in an ask she got from @impala124 about the absence of India when we're talking about queer Asian media. I was intially just going to reblog it with my thought, but as it kept growing I figured it'd be best to just make my own post. Please read the ask linked above first so this makes sense.

*cracks knuckles* this is going to be the most fun I've had writing a post in ages. (For a little background, I'm a queer Indian, born and raised)

So, this is a very interesting question on a subject I've been rotating in my head for the past several months. There's a lot of different variables that contribute to the noticeable lack of discussion on Indian and South Asian queer media in general, so I'm just going to talk through the ones I've noticed a little randomly.

Talking about Asian media in general, it's well known that the mass popularity of kpop and anime has contributed massively to the increase in popularity of Asian media. If you've been in the Asian media fandom for any amount of time at all, you'll have noticed that media from Korea, Japan, and China gets by far the most attention from international audiences; all East Asian countries. There may be several reasons for this, but in particular, it's no secret that the fetishization of East Asians is a massive proponent in the popularity of media from these countries, while there's no such interest in South Asians. If we shift our focus to queer media specifically, media from these three countries is still extremely popular, with the addition of Thailand and the Philippines to some extent; both South East Asian countries. From what I've seen, there's very little international interest in media from South Asian countries (although, if we're talking about India specifically, I can't exactly say anything. Bollywood has not been good lately). If we talk about queer South Asian media, the scope of interest falls even further. If you'll notice, MyDramaList, one of the most commonly used websites for finding and tracking Asian shows only allows for East and South-East Asian shows. So, that's one reason—there's just not much international interest in Indian media in general. As Shan said in the initial post, it's partially because of a difference in priorities. Korea is notorious for using media to gain global standing, the role of the 'soft power' of Thai bls in the recent bills for equal marriage in Thailand has been widely discussed, the list goes on. Could racism also play a part in the massive gulf of interest in media from East Asian versus South Asian countries? Probably. But I'm not going to get into that too much.

Moving on, there's obviously a massive lack of queer media in India. I think this is greatly exacerbated by the fact that it's very hard to support the people making queer media beyond buying and/or streaming their work. The majority of people engaging with Indian queer media are queer Indians, and a lot of us have to do so in secret because of the society we live in. This means that creators that have to push through several obstacles to publish their work often receive little incentive to continue doing so because of the lack of engagement. Because of the lack of media, international fans are less likely to become interested in queer Indian media, and the cycle continues.

I will say though, contrary to what Shan said, I think Indian media, particularly anything that came out post 2019 might actually be on the easier end of the spectrum when it comes to access. This may simply be bias, so forgive me if I'm wrong here, but from what I've seen, a lot of queer Indian shows are in fact available on streaming sites, and at most you'd need a vpn to access them. I think the two main things that actually hold back queer Indian media from becoming more popular are a lack of noise and it's relatively lower quality.

The main way we find out about new shows in this space is through either word of mouth (well actually, post) or because we follow production houses known for producing media. Because of the sparse nature of both the media and the consumers, there's very few people who learn enough about the media to want to give it a shot. For example, there's a film on netflix called Badhaai Do (hindi for Congratulate Us) that I've been meaning to watch for a while. It centers around a lavender marriage and I've heard a lot of good things about it, so I was slightly surprised to see that most of the people on tumblr I interact with who have been engaging with queer media for far longer than me had never heard of it. There's also a, Indian BL from 2017 called Romil and Jugal that I've written about before here, and I would've never learned of it's existence if not for a friend hearing about it from another friend of hers.

Because there's so little queer indian media, it's natural that the quality leaves much to be desired. The main issue is, because the queer asian media market has become so saturated lately people are becoming a lot more selective with what they watch, and for good reason. This means that queer media from india is simply unable to grow and improve over time, leaving it stagnant. Back in 2016-2018, the overall dearth of queer media from Asia meant that a lot of people were willing to watch shows that were average or even worse. Thailand particularly seems to have benefitted from this, being able to grow and evolve its queer media due to the successes of shows like SOTUS, 2gehter, TharnType and more even recently, KinnPorsche. Queer Indian media will have a much, much harder time with this because of all of the factors I've talked about and more, meaning that it is much harder for queer media to evolve. Honestly, though I haven't been able to watch/read much queer media from India, the stuff I have seen is really quite decent, it's just that it tends to fail in comparison to some of the brilliant stuff we're seeing from other countries. A while a ago, I bought four queer books by Indian authors, and of the three I've read so far, I'd genuinely recommend two, albeit one with quite a few reservations (I'll be writing about them sometime in the future, just haven't found the time yet). While talking about this with @neuroticbookworm, she brought up the excellent point of how Indian media in general has just been of fairly poor quality lately. It seems to me that a lot of it is catered to more conservative audiences, which results in people like me becoming disillusioned with Indian media and simply moving onto things from other countries. It has been a long time since I've watched anything worthwhile come out of Bollywood. So, it becomes even harder for queer Indian shows to be found at all; a majority of their target audience has already forsaken Indian media as a lost cause.

So, those are a bunch of reasons because of which there's not a lot of discussion about queer Indian media in fandom spaces like Tumblr. Something else I'd like to point out is, it's very hard for queer shows in India to gain much traction whatsoever. Live television slots are ruled by the infamous Indian serials, the majority of the audience being people in their late thirties and older, particularly women. And while homophobia is just as prevalent amongst the youth of India as it is amongst older generations, younger people are far more likely to be engaging with queer media, in India at least. This means that it would be near impossible for queer shows to air on live television the way they do in countries like Thailand and Japan. The majority of Indian youth use global streaming services to watch shows, hence the greater concentration of queer shows on service platforms. (Romil and Jugal is something of a dark horse here—I don't believe it was ever aired, but it was produced by a producer who has a few decently popular serials under her belt and is available on an Indian steaming service—another reason I'm determined to research how tf this show ever came into existence) If we talk of movies, the industry is limited by the iron fist of Bollywood, another reason it's very hard for queer movies to be produced and why they're generally found on streaming sites.

There's just not a lot of people who have the balls it would take to make a queer Indian show/movie and push it to the Indian public beyond a streaming service. I mean, we're all seeing what's happening with the Love in The Big City drama right now, and believe me, public backlash in India would be the same, if not much worse. And if no one in India is watching these shows, why would anyone in any other part of the world? There's barely any public figures that would be willing to participate in such a project, so queer media stays underground. Currently, Karan Johar is the most popular—and one of the only—out celebrities in Bollywood, and, well, he's treated as something of a laughing stock by the public. He has one or two queer adjacent shows under his belt as a producer, but once again, they're barely known and available only on Netflix. There was a movie called Dostana in which he played a straight guy pretending to be gay but, well, that speaks for itself. And well, I can't exactly blame him for it, knowing how the Indian entertainment industry is.

To talk a little more about the specific comparison between India and Korea, I think you're fairly accurate in saying that the two countries seem to be roughly on par in terms of homophobia, although that's an extremely vague statement that's rather hard to either prove or disprove. While the difference in international attention towards Korean and Indian media is certainly a major component of the difference in discussion about the queer media from these countries, there's obviously other things that go into it as well. There's this video I watched some time ago on the progression of queer representation in K-dramas that's quite well researched. It's an hour and a half long, so in case you don't have the time to watch it (though I do recommend it), it basically talks about some of the dramas with queer rep that have aired on Korean television and their impact. While it's hard to gauge the level of impact of these shows on the availability of bls and gls in Korea, they certainly had an effect, if only telling the queer population of Korea that they are seen and heard. To my knowledge (although I may be mistaken), no such queer rep has ever aired on Indian television, meaning that there's nothing to push creators to put queer media out there. There have been old movies and shows that depict queerness, but none of them ever reached the sort of the scale where they may have some sort of impact on the industry. As I mentioned earlier, the widespread popularity of K-dramas (and k-pop) does make it easier for creators to make queer media since there's a much higher chance of the shows being successful thanks to the international audience. Bringing back Love In The Big City, the success of the book abroad and the high probability of the show being well received internationally is probably one of the reasons it was able to be produced amongst domestic backlash.

Now, I've been talking a lot about how it's difficult for queer Indian media to gain any sort of international recognition with domestic attention. However, it's not necessarily the case. Here's where I start rambling (I say, as if this post isn't verging on 2k words). It's been proven that the presence of the international market allows for greater creative freedom in spaces beyond television. The best example comes from Korea's very own 'soft power'; K-pop. There's a K-pop group called Dreamcatcher that debuted in 2017 with a rock sound and horror concept that was extremely rare in kpop at the time. They succeeded mainly by focusing most of their promotions to the foreign market, knowing that their concept would not be well liked in Korea. And they succeeded. Today, Dreamcatcher has a sizeable fandom and has even been growing in popularity in Korea, with the Korean public warming up to their genre and having influenced other girl groups to try out similar sounds. We've already talked about the lack of international attention for Indian media, but there's also the issue that the producers of queer Indian media aren't marketing to foreign audiences, which remain ignorant.

That's all I have, this is so long good lord. All in all, there's a bunch of factors that feed into each other creating a cycle which means that, unless there's a break somewhere, queer Indian media will remain unrecognized. I'm excited to see what other people have to say, because this is a topic close to my heart and I'd definitely enjoy seeing more discussions around it.

[lyricalsakura]

This Indo-Thai film is gonna be madness

I just saw the trailer. It's the amalgamation of Thai humour and Bollywood drama but mix them together with rom-com and all kind of over-the-top melodramatic tropes.

There will be cringe too but I am probably going to like that. This is an exciting mix of culture. Even if it does not keep up with my expectations, I will not be too highly disappointed.

Also, I did not know I needed to se Bright in sherwani. Bro looks exquisite.

[maysshortmoviereviews]

Middle Class Melodies (2020)

🎬Raghava, a young man, runs an eatery in his village but wishes to open a small hotel in a nearby town. He faces challenges in his quest and must overcome them to succeed.

📝 This was my first Telugu language film. I watched it with subtitles as I don't understand a thing! Technically my first Telugu movie was 'RRR' but I watched it dubbed in Hindi with English subtitles ...

Anyway it is a really sweet tale of a small town guy who just wants to run his own business. It is not ground breaking but has a very simple charm about it (it reminded me of the excellent 'Panchayat'). A story about every day aspirations, friendships and parents. It is just a delightful movie. The film clearly had a small budget but they did a good job. It isn't a very complicated story, just a story about someone with a dream, there was no violence or unnecessary drama which I liked.

I really liked the parents of the lead character. They were so nosey, but with a very good heart.

Loved the two songs and now they are in my playlist of random songs I like.

[francesderwent]

my brain is fried i'm so overtired I've cried spontaneously at least once a day for the past three days will you please help a girl out with a soft cozy wholesome movie recc please and thank you

I’m so sorry my dear!! I dug to the depths of a bunch of old tag games and my film tag and this is what I came up with!

when I’m strung out I tend to gravitate to movies that will make me happy-cry so this list will at moments tend in that direction. I tried to sort by what was available to stream now, and the sub-lists are in no particular order

if you have amazon prime (the basic package):

Penelope (2006). highly recommend, a funny little modern fairy tale about a lonely young girl searching for a way to break her curse. this one heals something in my heart

Stardust. also highly recommend! a chaotic fairy tale about true love and what a person would do for it.

Street Gang. the Sesame Street documentary. sometimes people are good and they’re trying to make the world a better place and they’re doing it with their friends.

How To Train Your Dragon. it’s a perfectly executed film and the score and animation is gorgeous. (also available on netflix)

if you have netflix:

Feel the Beat. a dance flick about a seemingly cold-hearted ambitious young woman becoming a dance teacher in her hometown

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. so so so rewatchable.

She’s the Man. the funniest movie on this list and possibly of all time. I have never shown this movie to a person who didn’t end up loving it. it’s Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at boarding school as a soccer movie

if you have tubi?? you might not need a membership I don’t know how tubi works??

The Music Man. some of the best costumes and choreography my favorite age of movie musicals had to offer. a con man comes to a small Iowa town and starts to want to believe in the beautiful lie he’s selling.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. this movie was written by Roald Dahl and it is buck wild. widowed inventor and his two children buy a broken down racing car and?? hijinks and musical numbers ensue

if you have disney plus:

Princess Diaries (1&2). we know them, we love them.

Sky High. if you haven’t seen this, I highly recommend it because it is silly fun but it understands the genre it’s playing with.

Newsies (1992). scrappy newsboys form a union, sing songs, punch each other, ???, profit

Holes. the single best adapted book to film ever? the cast commentary is also hilarious

Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella (1997). absolutely delightful. Whitney Houston as the godmother! Jason Alexander as the butler! Brandy as Cinderella! Bernadette Peters as the stepmother!

if you feel up for a trip to the library, things to look for:

The Hundred Foot Journey. I only saw this one once but it’s about a family who opens up an Indian restaurant across from a Michelin-starred French restaurant and it’s gorgeous

A League of Their Own (1992). sisters! best friends! married women and their disreputable drunk coach friends!

The Secret Garden (1993). highly recommend! this one fixes me down to my bones.

This Beautiful Fantastic. also highly recommend! a woman who’s afraid of the world falls in love with it.

Secondhand Lions. also highly recommend!! a boy gets dropped off with his great-uncles for the summer, hears possibly made-up stories of their wild and adventurous youth

August Rush. a young musical prodigy searches for his parents.

Sense and Sensibility (1995). if you need Austen energy, this is the one.

Cinderella (2015). this movie is so gentle and so lovely.

Little Women (1994). life is gonna be hard and sad but it’s gonna be beautiful and the love will endure!!!

I hope this helps and I hope you feel better! ❤️❤️

[kverything-official]

10 Free Kdrama Sites That Nobody Will Tell You About

Let’s be real here, even though most of us want to watch Korean dramas all day, not all of us can afford high price margins of streaming platforms. Given the fact that a big part of Korean drama fans are still students, it’s only natural to look for affordable ways to keep enjoying Kdramas in the best possible way. 

This is why I decided to share these 10 free Kdrama sites that no one will tell you about. I have personally used these sites before and these work just fine. But you will need a little guide on how to use these and I am here to teach you the hacks. 

So, read the blog till the end and discover the wonder that free Kdrama sites have to offer. Without further ado let’s get into the list. 

10 free Kdrama sites for streaming

10. Dramafire 

Starting with my least favorite site, Dramafire, this one is quite complicated and I myself don’t understand how to navigate through it properly. Nonetheless, it can be one of the best free Kdrama sites if you know your way through it. 

The very first thing that upsets me is that there are a ton of different versions of the same site and if you don’t know which one is the real one, you are bound to get lost (just as I did). The next negative point is that there are both videos and blog posts, so you need to filter through those if you want to land on the dramas. 

Another thing is that I don’t know yet, if there are any options of downloading or not, as it was quite difficult for me to navigate through the site. But again it’s better to have something other than having nothing. 

So, you can bookmark this site and use this if your favorite free Kdrama sites aren’t working properly.

9. MyAsianTV

Next in the list, we have MyAsianTV. Even though I haven’t yet used it personally, the interface of this website looks promising. Unlike most of the free Kdrama sites, this one is organized and has different sections, where you can find the most recent Kdramas and the most popular ones of recent time. 

There are very minimal advertisements, which is another plus point. You can also search for the dramas you are looking for through the search bar. 

Not only Kdramas, but there are also movies and shows that you can easily find out by browsing through the different tabs and the search bar. Downloading here is very easy. However, just as the other free Kdrama sites, it will redirect you to different websites, which you need to be aware of. Other than that MyAsianTV is a standard free Kdrama site that you can use as your permanent choice for watching or downloading Kdramas for free. 

8. Dramahood 

Next up, we have Dramahood as our 8th free Kdrama site. Honestly, I didn’t like this one. It has a clean interface but that is rather glitchy. The dashboard took quite a lot of time to load, which means you shouldn’t expect much of an user-friendly experience. 

The dashboard has a list of some of the most popular dramas and movies of all time, which would be better if replaced with the on-going series and movies. 

I haven’t downloaded anything from this site, so I can’t review that experience but beware of the ads. Everything you tap will redirect you to another site, which is certainly very annoying. 

But again, if your favorite free Kdrama sites aren’t working then this can be plausible choice.

7. Amazon Mini TV (For indian fans)

Amazon Mini TV is a very special feature as one of the free Kdrama sites for the Indian Kdrama fans. You can watch Kdramas for free, that too, from a trusted provider such as Amazon. But there are cons. 

First of all, Amazon Mini TV is not an official streaming platform, it is rather a small inclusion to the Amazon ecommerce application. Hence, you can not expect the quality that Amazon prime Kdramas offers. 

Secondly, the limitations of Kdramas are striking. There are very few Kdramas that you can browse through and watch. So, there is a bigger chance of you not finding the drama that you are looking for. 

Thirdly, all the Kdramas are dubbed in Hindi. Many of you might like it but I prefer watching Kdramas in the original version (as it keeps my Korean under practice).  

So, Amazon Mini TV might not become the kind of free Kdrama sites that you are looking for. However, it doesn’t hurt to try, right? 

Read more at: 10 Free Kdrama Sites That Nobody Will Tell You About

[ineffable-opinions]

Little Hearts - Coming Out, Coming Home

സമർപ്പണം - ക്വീർ മലയാളികൾക്ക്.

This week saw a lot of very interesting discussion about Indian queer media (compilation by @starryalpacasstuff). It coinciding with 13th edition of Kerala Queer Pride 2024 is so serendipitous.

I had drafted this Little Hearts (2024) appreciation post with the aim to finalize it before Kollavarsham New Year but did not get around to doing so. I wanted to take part in the current conversation. So, I am posting it now. I intent to discuss Indian BL: Sting of Lavender and Arotpa Pirang (The Hidden Tears) as well as movies like Kaathal – The Core, Moothon and Ardhanaari (2012) in the future.

Little Hearts (2024) is a Malayalam-language comedy movie available for streaming on Amazon Prime. (CW: heterosexism; PSA: Hema Committee Report) It's not a surprisingly impressive movie by any measure but I had a very nice time watching it. It was one of the best comedies of this year for me. And it tackles coming out in an interesting manner.

contains spoilers

Plot

(names might be spelled differently in the subtitles.)

The movie is set in a village in a high-range region of Kerala. We follow the main character Sibi through his journey, navigating 3 different relationships and their implication on his beloved people. The movie is pretty straightforward in its approach. At the outset, we are introduced to the romantic relationship – the one between Sibi’s father, Baby, and Baby’s childhood sweetheart, Cecily who was deserted by her husband Joey. She has a teenage daughter who doesn't look at their romance favorably. That’s the first hurdle. The other hurdle to their relationship is Cecily’s brother Papan and his feud with Baby. The feud and Sibi’s involvement make for some really fun moments throughout the movie.

The next romantic relationship involves Sibi and his feudal landlord’s daughter. Sibi and his father work in the cardamom estate owned by Johnson. Sibi’s family and Johnson’s basically have a very good relationship. Sibi grew up with Johnson’s kids, calls Johnson "papa" and Anitha (Johnson’s wife) "mummy", and spends a considerable amount of time at their house. Their families are practically one as seen from them breaking bread together on Maundy Thursday – an intimate tradition for those Nasrani folk.

However, there is clear class disparity. Sibi lives in a much smaller house and when dismissed from work, the class difference only becomes clearer.

What gets things moving is Shosha rejecting a proposal for an arranged marriage by lying that she is in a relationship with Sibi.

Sibi, clearly demiromantic, is surprised initially when she starts wooing him but eventually he falls for her. This branded pair’s romance didn’t work as well as it did in RDX (2023) but at least this time around they got their happy ending (a rarity in Malayalam romances).

The queer sub-plot arrives when Johnson’s firstborn, Sharon, returns home after a long while. While his parents prepare to arrange his marriage, Sharon confides in Sibi that he's actually getting married next month to his foreigner partner. The only thing Sibi enquires about is if Sharon’s partner belongs to the same community as himself (Catholic). When he gives a positive reply, Sibi asks him to invite his partner over so that Sibi can present the news to Johnson and Anitha on Sharon’s behalf. At the airport, Sharon welcomes his boyfriend Nathan and Sibi is shocked.

Agitated, Sibi is rude towards Sharon initially. However, he agrees to take Nathan and Sharon to visit tourist spots in exchange for Sharon meeting the woman his parents are trying to arrange his wedding with. During their excursion, Sibi warms up to their relationship while watching them interact. He also puts in effort to learn about queer people.

As promised Sharon meets the girl and rejects her respectfully. Nathan grows uneasy as Sharon drags his feet. Their relationship strains. Sharon’s mom notices but isn’t sure about what’s going on. Sibi’s efforts to talk to Johnson are unsuccessful. Hopeless, Sharon asks Nathan to leave by himself as he needs more time. Nathan asks Sibi to take care of Sharon and returns.

Anitha learns from Sibi about Nathan’s relationship with Sharon and, from her Johnson. Unable to process this information, Johnson consults Baby. Drunk out of his wits, Baby not only scolds Johnson for not accepting Sharon but also reveals the love affair between Sibi and Shosha. They fight and Johnson hits Sibi and forbids both son and dad from entering either his house or his land. Moreover, Sibi and Shosha’s relationship takes a turn for the worse as their stubborn attitudes worsen minor conflicts between them. 

Right when Sibi with the vicar’s intervention gets Cecily’s daughter's approval for their parent’s relationship, Joey appears. Turns out Joey held a grudge against his brother-in-law, Papan, who had hurt and humiliated him. Joey exacts revenge by whipping and stabbing Papan during the Way of Cross performance on Good Friday. Finally divorced, Cecily can finally move on and marry Baby.

While Shosha tries to be the bridge between her father and her brother, she fails to do so for her relationship with Sibi. Sharon calls her out. The movie ends with Baby and Sibi getting married and Sharon and Nathan joining them on a video call after the ceremony.

Analysis

The predominant narrative of “coming out” is built on a particular kind of queer experience and geography, which is usually from the standpoint of white, middle-class, urban U.S. citizenship.

Shuzhen Huang & Daniel C. Brouwer (2018) Coming out, coming home, coming with: Models of queer sexuality in contemporary China

Nathan is an upper-class, white, Christian man with an accepting family emblematic of the Western take on queerness we all are familiar with. Sharon, on the other hand, is from this little agricultural village in Kerala where everyone knows everyone else and queerness does not get accepted and protected the way it does in the West. That’s why he had migrated. That’s why he did not visit more often. His desires are mediated by his circumstances. Leaving home is a decision that a lot of queer people living in villages like his adopt, whether it is to urban regions within the nation or abroad. Queer migration is a very common phenomenon in India and I hope to discuss it further in relation to other movies such as Moothon and Sancharam.

Migration is expected to offer queer individuals distance from the daily pressures of heteronormativity and cis-heteropatriarchy. It can secure them better employment opportunities, higher incomes, and improved standard of living and savings that would help them support themselves (and their parents) in their old age in the absence of offspring and substantial social security benefits. It can also provide them with relative anonymity to explore their sexuality, improved chances of finding partners, friends, and other queer folk in general whom they can support and be supported by.

Sharon choosing to introduce Nathan to his family through Sibi might come off as strange, but that’s very much not the case. Arranged marriages are the norm in Kerala. Even if your marriage is not arranged via match-makers (and increasingly via dedicated websites), it is not unusual for the couple to get their parents to ‘arrange’ their love marriage on their behalf. Marriages are grand affairs, with creation and merging of families, transfer of different sorts of wealth and capital, a well-mediated social project where familism rather than individualism dominates, with relatives and neighbors having a say in everything.  

Shane Nigam, the actor who played Sibi, has other movies in which he does the exact same role for heterosexual couples. In RDX, he is tasked with presenting his brother’s relationship with his future sister-in-law to his father and getting his father’s approval.

In Kumbalangi Nights, Shane's character has to convince his brother to bring up the matter of his marriage with his girlfriend’s brother-in-law in the absence of their parents.

While cis-heterosexual pairings enjoy better acceptance at some level compared to others, that acceptance is conditional. India more broadly and Kerala specifically has a fairly long-standing tradition of “marrying” within one’s caste and creed. (There were other not-exactly conjugal ties in Kerala like sambandam that were inter-caste.) Exogamy is strongly discouraged and punished through deprivation of essential social capital and in extreme cases through honor killings. It is in this context that Sibi asks Sharon if the one Sharon is going to marry belongs to their community – they are Nasrani Catholics. When Sharon affirms that although his partner is a foreigner but catholic, Sibi is relieved (in a very comphet way which he regrets soon enough).

Sibi, in a heterosexist outburst, uses “kundan” intending to hurt Sharon. Sibi is a stand-in for most Malayali folk whose understanding of queerness, is rooted in local forms of expression of sexuality. While married folk are expected to fall in love and stay faithful and carry on the bloodline, that is only the intention for and not the basis of marriages. Sexuality, especially non-heterosexuality, leading to marriages and households is a fairly unusual concept. Please keep in mind that even the idea of a household being one that had its basis in marriage is fairly new. Till the 20th century, a normal Nair (a community in Kerala) household (tharavaadu) meant sisters and brothers living with the sisters' children, and these children's fathers would continue to live with their own sisters.

Sexuality that made one “kundan” lie outside the conjugal sphere if not for marriage equality activism and movements seeking legalization of non-monogamous kinship arrangements. I have discussed this form of male-male sexuality, the term kundan and its connection with BL, in my post on Kubi and Gohatto.

Sibi struggles with the task Sharon entrusted him with. He has to learn about queer people (he is seen browsing the internet and watching videos to learn), understand the couple he is expected to introduce, and present it in a manner that would not spook Sharon’s parents (for example, the conversation about food preferences) and would instead make them root for their son. Sibi’s hesitation costs the couple time and drives a wedge between them that widens enough to tear their relationship apart.

Sharon’s mother is the first one to learn of his relationship with Nathan. She responds in a way that would be best explained by the Chinese phrase “rugui” (entering the closet) which refers to the initial and depressive stage [many Asian] parents enter upon learning about their child’s queerness. It is a painful psychological state consisting of shock, anger, grief, disbelief, and self-blame. These parents then must work their way back to a balanced state.

It is clear that she was suspecting and that is why she had insisted on speaking to Sibi at the church. After learning the truth, she chooses to walk back home and breaks down while hugging her son, upon finally realizing the pain he has been in all this time and the reason behind the pain.

Sharon’s father learns the truth from his wife. The second stage of his reaction is what the Chinese call “jiating chugui” (familial coming-out) wherein a parent seeks moral support from someone he trusts. However, his decision to confide in Baby backfires.

Drunk out of his wits, Baby reprimands Johnson for hesitating to accept his son. Interestingly, Baby uses a lot of slang popular on the internet among Malayali folk online including those relating to political correctness and progressive thinking. Baby is disingenuous since he is not free from heterosexist bias himself. However, learning that Baby and Sibi have been keeping a bunch of secrets from him breaks Johnson who was already emotionally vulnerable. He lashes out at Baby and Sibi as well as his son, whom he prevents from leaving the country by withholding his passport.

Shosha, Sharon’s sister is upset with Sibi for hiding about Sharon’s relationship. However, she is able to offer the good counsel that Johnson had fruitlessly sought in Baby. Sharon and Johnson renew their bond over alcohol. Finally, at peace, Sharon is able to set Shosha straight too.  

There has been criticism that the movie failed to do justice to the queer theme by focusing uneven amounts of energy on heterosexual couples. But, I think Little Hearts did a good job of upsetting the conventional idea that heterosexual relationships are automatically normative and easily accepted. Even with heterosexual relationships being intra-caste, class is a powerful enough divide to try and force couples apart through familial/societal disapproval (from Papan against Baby and Johnson against Sibi). Consider the fact that Kerala is yet to have an on-screen inter-caste heterosexual couple have their happy ending. By calling into question what can be considered queer in Malayali society, the movie manages to critically examine the emergent theme of Christian Nasrani familialism.

-

notes:

Hema Committee report - Wikipedia

Baburaj, the actor who played Baby, is one of the post-report accused.

2. Shine Tom Chacko previously played a queer character in the 2022 action thriller Bheeshma Parvam.

[drivingsideways]

Year-end discussion in the Indian film space was dominated by the success of controversial film maker Sandeep Reddy Vanga's latest offering of undiluted misogyny and rage, appropriately titled "Animal"; but the best commentary I've seen on failed fatherhood and violent, toxic masculinity this year comes in a 2 minute scene in Kaathal: The Core, where a wizened old man testifies quietly in a family court that yes, he always knew that his son is gay, and still coerced him into a heterosexual marriage.

Kaathal: The Core isn't a film without flaws; one could argue that it's the quintessential film made about queer people by straight allies- actually more interested in the reaction to queerness and the adjustment to queerness by cishets, than in queer lives; that it has a one dimensional view of the reality of queer living in India. It has its moments of what I call "educational speechifying" that feel tonally at odds with the rest of it, but again, this paternalism in Indian cinema of the self-consciously "progressive" variety isn't unfamiliar.

The ending feels a little trite, and some artistic choices- an actual rainbow in the sky appears as the two lovers drive off into the sunset of their newly liberated lives-feel particularly anvil-like- much like the ending of another of director Jeo Baby's films, The Great Indian Kitchen, which was an exploration of the brutality of Indian-flavoured patriarchy. In short: a movie filled with intricately and deliberately placed subtleties that occasionally - somewhat inexplicably-loses confidence in its audience, and chooses to remedy that by being a bit over the top.

But those are minor quibbles. This movie gutted me. The story revolves around a middle-aged closeted gay man from a small close knit village community in Kerala whose life- and the lives of those around him- is thrown into disarray when his wife of twenty years files for divorce citing his gayness as the reason for the breakdown of the marriage- a step she takes just as he's nominated as his party's candidate for the local elections. With this premise, you'd be forgiven for expecting the movie to be high decibel melodrama- and possibly a tragedy- from start to finish. Instead, it deliberately chooses the quieter route, the most tender one; while not flinching away from the grim realities of widespread homophobia, it portrays both individuals and a community who , in a moment of crisis, discover that they are better than they think they are. And it does this not from a jingoistic, self-congratulatory ethno-nationalist perspective- but from a place of genuine love- as a reminder and a beacon in these dark times.

All of this is anchored in some fantastic performances- Mammootty once more showing up to remind us why he's one of the greatest living actors in the world, and Sudhi Kozhikode as Thankan in what should be a multiple-award winning performance as his long time lover. I've rarely seen an actor make so much of their limited screen time. When I say that minutes 50-52 of this film are the most devastatingly tragic-romantic moments in world cinema, you'll think I'm exaggerating and perhaps I am, but I can also guarantee that you're going to want to rewatch that sequence at least ten times and cry about two old geezers in love. Lives were changed in those moments, no lie.

My one disappointment in terms of performances is Jyothika, playing Omana, the long suffering wife. Omana is one of the stand-outs in the history of female characters in Malayalam cinema, and Jyothika is- barely adequate. When you contrast it with a similar role - say Hsieh Ying -xuan's performance as Liu San-lian in Dear Ex (2018)- the flatness is even more jarring. Still, the sheer love with which her character and her relationships, especially with her husband, are written carry the film through.

Tl;dr: watch it on Amazon Prime or at a theatre near you! You will not regret it.

[kajaono]

Diverse Sherlock Holmes adaptations

for you to watch on major streaming services to make Racists, sexists and homophobes mad

SPOILERS are always marked as such! Read on own risk!

1. The irregulars - Available on Netflix - cancelled after one season

John Watson is a black gay man (canon, confirmed in the show) in this supernatural adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.

The main character is Bea, played by Thaddea Graham a Chinese-Irish (queer?) actress

2. Miss Sherlock - closed in one season, available on HBO Asia, HBO max (?) Hulu and Amazon prime America and DVD

This adaptation plays in Japan. Both Sherlock and John are Japanese woman. Wato (John) is traumatized war doctor for Red Cross. Her trauma is important for the story. Sherlock is autistic coded and has a chocolate addiction. SPOILER SPOILERS SPOILERS Spoilers Moriarty is a female in this adaptation. While Mary is male.

3. Elementary - closed in seven seasons - available on prime, CBS and many more as well as DVDs

In this adaptation John is a female Chinese American. Her Sherlock is both queer as well as neurodivergent coded, but it was never confirmed inside the show, only outside, so this is why he is not pictured her

Johns close colleague and best friend is Markus bell, an American black man

Mrs Hudson is a trans woman

Sherlocks girlfriend is autistic

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER:

Moriarty is a woman in this one

We also have multiple other queer, disabled and people of color-side characters

4. Enola Holmes - two movies so far - available on Netflix

Watson is an Indian man in this one. Apart from that this adaptation is a not a shining light of representation but we will see where the road will lead us. This was already enough to make people mad…

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Moriarty is a black woman in this one and if we will get a third movie we will see more her soon!

5. Sherlock daughter - in production - Netflix

We honestly do not know anything about the adaptation so far, apart from that Sherlock will be played be a trans woman