Before I start to talk about the film, I'm going to mention the storyline provided here on IMDB. The person who wrote that farrago of tosh clearly hasn't seen the film at all. No woman called Nivi "moves in" with Vilom and Amay. She is simply an actress who is working on a project with Vilom and who makes a rejected pass at him. There are no "gender-blending gay/straight relationships" to speak of, just a relationship between the two male leads. EDIT: I see that whoever wrote the storyline has changed it in light of my review. It's still nonsense, I'm afraid. There is no reassessment or examination of motive or sexuality. He has no idea that Nivi wanted to have sex with him - and that's all it is, she is not in love with him. He refuses, she leaves disgustedly when he says he's gay. There is no "sudden love triangle". I don't know where this fantasy is coming from.
The film is about the two nice looking lads Vilom and Amay and how they meet and gradually fall in love. The story is set 10 years in the past and is framed by the decriminalisation and subsequent recriminalisation of homosexuality in India, a theme that has repercussions on the lives of our heroes.
During those few years, we see their ups and downs as well as the reactions of society to their relationship as well as the social imperatives that can drive even gay guys to marry to please their families. A shocking act of violence against the two lovers leads them to a reassessment of and realignment in their lives.
I'm always dubious when people play parts in a language that isn't theirs. However, both male actors had fluent, albeit accented English and broke into the language much of the time as educated, middle class Indians do. Nivi was less fluent, but had a far smaller role so her language skills were less important. I watched with subtitles and needed them even for the English dialogue as I'm going slightly deaf, however someone with normal hearing would not need them at all if they speak both Hindi and English. Someone with no Hindi would need the subs, of course. At 82 minutes, this film was just about right in its length. Any longer and it would have lost its focus.
I enjoyed it and was rooting for the guys despite the sense of impending doom engendered by the very first scene. I can't give it more than a six, but having said that, it was a good film that held this viewer's attention as a glimpse into a faraway world where love dares not speak its name .
