Bollywood film Badhaai Do shed light on lavender marriages in India. Starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar, the film isn’t perfect but it instantly became a conversation starter in normalising queer identities and relationships. In fact, a recent incident at a theatre where the film was being screened has gone viral. An Indian man, Priyanjul Johari, who went to watch the film with his boyfriend witnessed a few movie-goers who passed offensive remarks on the queer characters of the film. Johari decided to respond to them.
He shared his account of the incident on social media. In a post, he wrote that those talking during the film seared a row ahead of him “found the same-sex couple scenes funny and embarrassing” and were heard saying homophobic things like “Are mai to galat movie dekhne a gayi (I ended up coming for the wrong film)” referring to the concept.
Johari then describes that a scene involving Rajkummar Rao which was a more serious part of the film left him in tears and prompted applause from him. Noticing this, someone seated in the front row said “yeh pakka GAY hoga…(he’s definitely gay…)” the post mentions. After that Johari shut down the troll saying, “Haan bro GAY hu! Apne bande ke sath aya hu. (yes, I’m gay! I’ve come here with my partner.)”
“Bol… Koi dikkat? (you got a problem?)” he added. Check out the full post here:
The crowd then applauded him for his epic reply and cheered for him. Way to go Priyanjul!
Badhaai Do opened with mixed reviews from critics. While some hailed the film’s wholesome plot and the sensitive attempt at showcasing a lavender marriage, others criticised the makers for not casting queer actors and giving these roles to cishet actors instead.
Read our review of the film here:
Cover image: Junglee Pictures
