Badhaai Do

Badhaai Do is a film that very specifically asks for gay equality. It’s well meaning and represents progress in depictions of queer people in Indian cinema. It’s also two and a half hours. I love the message of this film and came to enjoy the characters. But my god, Badhaai Do was too long.

Badhaai Do is about the lavender marriage between the gay Shardul and lesbian Suman. Both in their early 30’s, their parents are on their case to marry. So, Shardul proposes marriage to Suman. They can present as a couple to their family but in reality, be little more than roommates. But Shardul and Suman didn’t think what happens after the wedding. Instead of leaving them alone, their families begin asking when the couple will have children. And the two want kids, they just really don’t want to have sex. To add further difficulty, both Shardul and Suman have romantic interests they have to keep quiet to maintain their cover. For Suman particularly, this becomes difficult when her girlfriend, Rimjhim moves in.

The film’s best trait is that it has a lot to explore and say about Indian culture. It’s not ideal to get a snapshot of a country from a film. But Badhaai Do seems to welcome it. Part of the reason for the film’s length is there is so much the film wants to say. Mostly, this is really welcome. The main story beats of Badhaai Do are things I’ve seen before in other queer cinema. But the specificity about how Indian culture and religion works with this story makes it new and interesting. It is notable how casually the film treats issues of police violence. Shardul is a cop. And we see him demand suspects perform stress positions and insult and belittle them. This is largely played for laughs. But what that scene suggests about the police in India is pretty damn scary.

Badhaai Do’s other really successful theme is the tension between tradition and modernity. Through the younger generation of Shardul and Suman, we see the modernity. They’re both gay and find romantic partners through dating apps. Their parents still push for arranged marriages, with a focus on colour and caste. Shardul and Suman spend most of the film trying to meet their parents’ desires for them to live up to tradition. And it’s exhausting, never ending work. Luckily, by the end, we see a joyful mix of traditional celebration mixed with the modernity of Shardul and Suman’s unconventional yet accepted family model. These two generations have found a middle ground where both modernity and tradition are respected. And everyone’s happier for it.

One issue with the film is that it wanders between being comedy and drama. The first act is pretty funny. There’s a lot of very obvious moments of humour. But as the film progresses, the comedy fades a little. The last act is primarily drama, and it is pretty successful. Suman’s coming out to her father and begging his acceptance and Shardul’s impassioned speech for acceptance of Suman and all gay people are very emotional scenes. It’s really the second act, where the film isn’t wholly comedic but doesn’t have successful dramatic beats where it falls down. Especially given the length of the film, this second act really seemed to drag.

Ultimately, I enjoyed and respected Badhaai Do. It had great themes and a message to impart. And I think it did so really successfully. There’s a scene at the end with a pride parade. And because of how much you see these gay characters struggle daily, the parade feels not only joyful, but necessary. And that’s how the film largely feels; joyful and necessary. This is a great piece of representation that shows both how society can mistreat gay people but also that there is joy, acceptance and love to be found from both family and community. It’s just that again, there is a lot of padding in between the moments that really work.

Overall rating: 6/10

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