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For a film named “Unicorns,” color is noticeably absent at first. Luke (Ben Hardy) lives in a world of gray, where cloudy skies and towering blocks of concrete threaten to crush him completely. So too does the responsibility of raising a five-year-old son alone after his ex ran out. Not even a casual hook-up in a grubby field behind his Essex council estate frees him of that cramped, confined feeling, especially when the woman he’s just shagged cooly blows him off.

That all changes when Luke takes a wrong turn in an Indian restaurant one day and ends up in a Gaysian club night. Upon pushing that door open, strobe lights flood his monochromatic existence with neon colors that pulsate and glitter on stage where Aysha (Jason Patel) is performing. It’s almost like that unforgettable moment in “The Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy’s world transforms to color,...

When Luke (Ben Hardy), a mechanic and single father, stumbles into an Asian nightclub after an encounter with a woman who only sees him as a one-night stand, he meets the beautiful Aysha, a performer in the club. Luke is mesmerized; Aysha (Jason Patel) seems to wink at him. The next thing we know, they’re outside kissing – their connection electric and palpable. What Luke doesn’t initially realize is that he’s looking at Ashiq’s queer drag queen persona. The confusion when he does leads him to run away.

But Aysha doesn’t let Luke off so easily. Having lost her driver as a result of the kiss with Luke, she can’t get to gigs. So she tracks Luke down where he works, and makes him a deal: he drives her to gigs, and Aysha gives him a cut of her earnings. Luke remains reluctant. He still...

Image courtesy of A24

For me the year of 2024 was a challenging one. Between being in hospital or housebound at home, I could not attend any press shows or even visit my local cinemas. However, I have tried to catch up with some of the more important films of the year. I have missed many I would like to have seen, but time marches on and I have made the best of a bad situation. If it was a tough year for me, it also seems to have brought many films dealing with various difficulties to our cinema screens.

Take, for instance, Edward Berger’s Conclave. What could be more challenging than the selection of a new Pope? Ralph Fiennes in this role is torn between tradition and scandals concerning the possible candidates. Then there was Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, where a Mexican cartel leader is forced to disappear...

Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd take the helm of Unicorns, a story highlighting the intersecting lives of two unique individuals. El Hosaini has gained acclaim for her portraits of identity in a multicultural Britain, while Floyd penned the insightful script. They’ve assembled an impressive cast led by Jason Patel and Ben Hardy in their first film collaboration.

Hardy plays Luke, a mechanic and single dad residing in working-class Essex. Life has dealt him some tough blows, yet he keeps persevering for the sake of his young son. One night at an underground club, his eyes are drawn to Aysha’s dazzling performance on stage. Played with heartfelt nuance by Patel, Aysha lights up the room as her soulful drag queen persona. What starts as a fleeting encounter leads to unexpected places as Luke realizes Aysha exists as more than just a beauty behind makeup.

Challenging assumptions and dismissing easy labels,...

Jason Patel is excellent as drag queen Aysha in Sally El Hosaini’s new film, but the scenes where Aysha visits her parents as Ashiq really steal the show

Welsh-Egyptian film-maker Sally El Hosaini made a supremely confident debut in 2012 with My Brother the Devil, about a young gay Muslim drug dealer in Hackney. After following up with last year’s refugee drama The Swimmers, she is back exploring queer south Asian culture. Co-directing Unicorns with James Krishna Floyd (the star of My Brother the Devil), who wrote the script, El Hosaini brings a streak of hopefulness to gritty social realism, with the added attraction of superstar drag queens.

At the centre of the film are a pair of heartfelt performances. Ben Hardy is Luke, a straight white mechanic struggling to bring up his five-year-old son as a single dad. One night, Luke accidentally finds himself on the dancefloor of...

“Unicorns” explores a world not seen much in feature films — the world of “gaysians,” the South Asian gay community in the U.K. The film, directed by Sally El Hosaini (“The Swimmers”) and James Krishna Floyd and written by Floyd, follows Aysha/Ashiq (charismatic newcomer Jason Patel) a queer, Muslim, South Asian drag queen living a double life who sparks a friendship then romance with white, straight mechanic and single father Luke. The film bowed to rave reviews at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. Protagonist Pictures is handling international sales at AFM.

“Unicorns” is El Hosaini and Floyd’s third collaboration.

“I think mainstream society is very good at lumping very reductive identity labels on all of us. Obviously, in terms of sexuality, but I think in terms of everything in terms of race and gender and I’ve always felt that these things are very gray and very fluid.

At the heart of James Krishna Floyd and Sally El Hosaini's 2023 queer romantic drama Unicorns is the scintillating chemistry between co-stars Ben Hardy and newcomer Jason Patel. The pair play two could-be lovers who first have to overcome the boundaries between their two worlds. Hardy plays a single father and a mechanic whose unexpected night with Patel's South Asian nightclub drag queen Aysha/Ashiq sparks a surprisingly deep connection that could lead to something more. It's a premise that requires a strong connection between its leads to pull off which both stars attested to.

On the way home after a party-ending brawl, Aysha (Jason Patel) explains to Luke (Ben Hardy) the torrid love triangle that precipitated the fight in the first place. It sounds complicated, Luke remarks, but Aysha counters that it’s actually pretty simple: “Everybody just wants what they can’t have.”

Despite her breezy delivery, the statement seems to hang in the air between them. Because by this point, both Luke and Aysha already know on some level what they want. They just have to allow themselves to have it. Unicorns traces their twin journeys toward self-acceptance with empathy, curiosity and a refreshing disregard for constricting labels.

What stands between the central pair is not a lack of desire, but a clash of identities. Luke is a straight white single dad from Essex who scrapes together a modest living as a mechanic; Aysha is a professional drag queen from Manchester hiding...

Ahmedabad, Oct 9 (Ians) Kerala and West Bengal will clash in the finals of the mens football competition in the 36th National Games. At the Eka Arena TransStadia here on Sunday evening, Kerala comfortably defeated their southern counterparts Karnataka 2-0 in the first semifinal while West Bengal beat Services by a solitary goal in the other semifinal played under floodlights.

Coached by former India striker Biswajit Bhattacharya, West Bengal scored the match-winner through Surajit Handsa in the 20th minute who finished off a lightning counter-attack along the left flank after the cross came in.

Led by experienced defender Suresh Meitei, who has I-League experience with Churchill Brothers and Roundglass Pubjab, Services missed a few chances with their livewire forward Shreyas Vg also hitting the crossbar from a well-taken half-volley.

Luck was also not on Services’ side as West Bengal goalkeeper Raja Burman twice came to their rescue in the second half...

ControversyThe film, with Tovino Thomas and Kalyani Priyadarshan in the lead, became a hit in theatres. However, both in theatre and the Netflix release, they missed out on giving credit to the animation team. CrisThe day that Thallumaala, a Malayalam film with Tovino Thomas and Kalyani Priyadarshan in the lead, came to movie theatres last month, a bunch of young artists went to watch it in different cinema halls across the state, some with their families, some with friends. They waited for the movie to be over and the end credits to roll on the screen, so they could point their names out to the people who came with them. The credits finished rolling and the theatre turned dark, but none of their names appeared on screen. The animation team, led by Kokaachi studio and comprising a lot of youngsters, went away dejected. The whole department was missing from the titles.