Skip to main content

All About Section 377 (Hindi) (Web Series)

This series takes its name from Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes homosexuality in India. India is getting better at producing at least web content wrt LGBt society, something that Indian mainstream cinema yet has to feel comfortable with. While a lot of people outside the country will not appreciate humour and the local lingo since these things get lost in translation; this series is tailor-made for the Indian youth aiming to offer a fresh perspective of LGBT life in India.

A young wide-eyed man Suresh moves to Mumbai from Delhi with dreams of making it big. He moves into the apartment of his cousin Rohit who happens to be a well-established fashion photographer. Rohit is gay and lives with his model boyfriend Sid and indifferent domestic helper Chhotu. In this 8-part series, we take a look at how Suresh, slowly gets comfortable with being around a gay couple. We look at the cute fights that Rohit and Sid have; how Rohit verbally abuses his servant for fun but then respects him and is ready to help him at any given instant. We see Suresh’s frustration in not knowing any girls and worrying what will happen to it. We see how Rohit starts to appreciate the fact that LGBT folks don’t have it easy and ultimately its all about love. Sexuality doesn’t matter and that gays are no different. In a very subtle effort, viewers are given a quick recap of how Section 377 has played out over a few years.

The series takes places mostly inside an apartment that provides the backdrop for the situational comedy I enjoyed every bit of it. Barring 2 serious scenes, which also brought a lump to my throat, the series is mostly good fun. I mean you have to excuse sloppy editing and some poorly scripted scenes, but once you are over that you will realize it is good fun series discussing homosexuality in India without making it overtly melodramatic. All the characters indulge in profanity & risqué humour and it was total fun. Main character Rohit, who also happens to be the creator and director of the series is lovely. He really stands out. In fact all the 4 main actors are good fun. I loved the banter between Rohit and Chhotu, the cute little arguments between fat Rohit and hunky Sid. As the actor-director, Rohit injects his brand of entertainment with a conscientiousness that should be applauded. Don’t get me wrong, this series has a lot of issues of editing, a little over acting and some poor scripting and continuity in places; but I am still willing to give it a higher rating just in the hope that it will reach a wider audience.

Despite its technical shortcomings, the series does manage to shine a light on the representation of LGBT culture in a very entertaining fashion in the landscape of India. it is a novice start, but it holds out the promise of better things to come. (6.5/10)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who

Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

I would never know what was the point behind making this film. Was it supposed to be a comedy, cos it wasn't. It wasn't even porn. It was just a silly attempt at making something absolutely senseless and ridiculous. The story, as well as direction is equally shoddy. You could laugh for having seen something so bad, but I wouldn't call that comedy. An old man runs a camp about gay masturbation. The explanation given is that gays masturbate for pleasure unlike straight men, for whom the act is seen as shame or because they can't find a woman. One day a straight man shows up and wants to join the camp for his thesis. After discussion, he is allowed in. Rules include that you can masturbate together, you can masturbate one another, but there is no fellatio or anal sex. Some students of course breaks rule. The teacher then talks about 2 forms of masturbation which gives ultimate pleasure. He shows one without touching and then refuses to talk of the other. Somehow suddenly,