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This review may contain spoilers.

I’ve watched this movie in theaters four times so… let’s talk about it.

Hilarious, entertaining, with fantastic themes on intergenerational patterns, intersectionality, and of course, gender norms. The first half triumphs with its energy and comedic writing while the second half brings the depth. And the odes, nods, and Easter eggs!: the old filmy songs, the Suraj Hua Maddham like music sequence, Jaya Banchan playing out an infamous plot from her own life not to mention her subtle nod to K3G, and many more. I laughed, I cried, I felt so alive. Maybe it’s because I have a crush on Ranveer Singh, sure, but one cannot watch this movie without noticing how truly phenomenal of an actor he has become. While I have my own feelings about Karan Johar as a person, you have to give it to him that he knows how to make a good freakin film. He captures the drama and campyness that makes Bollywood the infamous genre it’s become. I’ll always be an advocate for Tollywood, Kollywood, etc getting more recognition but for now, I just want to bask in this absolute banger of a Bollywood film.

This review may contain spoilers.

Important topic with poor execution and unclear messaging. Would a village full of Indian men who lost all their women to femicide really end up sympathetic, boldly advocating for women’s rights, and create the safest place for women in India? Call me cynical, but I highly doubt it.  Should Jayesh be sitting in front of a crowd of marginalized women giving an analogy about the world needing more love? No thank you. The male savior messaging paired with the illusions of safety within a country with the highest rates of violence towards women are not it. You’d think that there would be more thought put into such a sensitive topic given the realities of gender dynamics in India.

But damn does Raveer make for a very endearing, dreamy Gujju boy.. His acting, his outfits, his consistent looks of doubt and confusion - those may be the only lifeboats in this otherwise sinking ship.

It’s difficult for me to watch a film like this without being affected by the way women are simply sexual objects within the main character’s storyline. A film like this wouldn’t be made in today’s world and in some ways, that’s for the better. And at the same time, I did find myself immersed in the storyline, the score, and the tension that filled most scenes of this film. Mixed reviews from me.

This movie has been on my watch list for a while because of its depiction of Garba, and those scenes definitely did not disappoint. Such a beautiful depiction of a dance that’s near to my heart. 

At the same time, this film should have come with a trigger warning. Abrasive depictions of patriarchal violence—physical beatings and rape—and jokes about men’s entitlement to sex that just did not land with me. I could see that being the point, creating a juxtaposition between the men’s worship of goddesses immediate before or after treating their wives like servants, but still, the violent emotional and physical acts did not sit well with my more sensitive heart. 

Ultimately, the movie had powerful moments and also was hard to consume in other moments. Mixed reviews from me.

This review may contain spoilers.

Incredible movie, such a fun watch, right up until the end at which point some of the character’s responses to what was happening just didn’t make sense

This review may contain spoilers.

“Tune mujhe bhagwan ka roop maanakaar, mere insaniyat ko cheenliya hai mujhse”

Beautiful moments of humanity and representation sprinkled within an often-forced plot line. I wish Pallavi’s initial identity reveal was portrayed more realistically than the wedding video; that forced aspect of the central plot took away from the honest portrayal of a very real topic—living with an LGBTQ identity within an overly heterocentrist and homophobic culture—that is seldom shown in Bollywood films.

I felt frustrated with both Tejas’s consistent selfishness and the way he kept making decisions on his mother’s behalf, alongside Tara’s insistence that Pallavi’s needs to talk about her identity or come out. Pallavi is sandwiched between her two children, one of whom denies her identity while the other tries to force her identity reveal without care for Pallavi’s process. It’s likely there is truth to these characters and the frustration I felt was part of this film’s message: how often others force an agenda or process onto a person who is in an incredibly vulnerable and fragile position. 

It would’ve been powerful to see more scenes with Pallavi and Kanchan. Seeing their storyline through instead of Manohar’s insistence that he cannot survive without his wife. What position does that put her in anyways? The implications for her future remained ambiguous but I will say, seeing Pallavi and Kachan dance Garba in the final scene was a beautiful way to end. For her to be in public with the woman she loves. 

I wanted to rate this film higher for all the ways it’s revolutionary within the Indian film industry, but I could not look past certain forced plot lines.