Love is enough

The film Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan is remarkable for both its setting and the way it has been received.

There are two lies that the mass media has peddled about love. First, that “it conquers all” and second, that it is social hierarchies and all the little choices about inclusion and exclusion that people are forced to make. In Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan — the first mainstream Bollywood film that portrays a passionate, much in love gay couple, struggling to be accepted by a small-town, conservative upper caste family — both these lies are exposed. In doing so, the film has managed to give us a new kind of fairy-tale romance.

Kartik (Ayushmann Khurrana) and Aman (Jitendra Kumar) are a gay couple, living in Delhi. While Kartik’s father has no relationship with his son, Aman’s family back in Allahabad still dotes on him, unaware of his orientation. When they discover he is gay, every attempt is made to “cure” him and marry him off. At the heart of Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan, are many tales of unrequited love. Both of Aman’s parents pine for people they loved before they were married and his sister, who lost an eye as a child, knows that a traditional match is not on the cards for her. These conflicts do not resolve themselves neatly, and director Hitesh Kewalya does not hide the tension between family expectations and personal happiness in what is otherwise a rip-roaring comedy.

The film is remarkable for both its setting and the way it has been received. Set in the heart of conservative India, its tropes — from invoking Amitabh Bachchan, to wedding songs and joint family jokes — are almost cliché. Yet, it casually normalises gay sexuality as well as agency. And despite the hat-doff to DDLJ, parents’ approval is not what sanctifies love — love is enough. The film has hit the theatres and seems to have been received well without undue controversy. The message is clear: A film that depicts the struggles of being gay in India is no longer ahead of its times. The fairy-tale romance has evolved.