Thankfully, mainstream Hindi cinema has finally made way for more movies based on the LGBTQ+ community, the recent one being ‘Badhaai Do’. The Bhumi Pednekar and Rajkummar Rao starrer film is based on a marriage of convenience between a gay man and a lesbian woman in order to hide their sexuality from society.
However, when a same-sex couple, went to watch ‘Badhaai Do’ in the theatre, they were astonished by the kind of alleged hostility they experienced from some of their fellow audience. One of the two partners, Priyanjul Johari who is from Delhi, took to Instagram to share his ordeal.
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While watching the movie, a few members of the audience were whining and allegedly made homophobic statements.
And when the scenes between Bhumi and her on-screen same-sex partner, Chum Darang, arrived, here’s what some allegedly said:
And when an emotional scene consisting of Rajkummar Rao’s coming out was shown, Priyanjul started to clap and hoot. It was then when somebody from the front row allegedly remarked, “Yeh pakka gay hoga (He is gay for sure).”
Priyanjul went on to respond, “Haan bro, gay hoon. Apne bande ke saath aya hoon. 4 saal se relationship mein hoon. Dono ke ghar pe bhi pata hai. Bol…koi dikkat? (Yes, I’m gay. I’ve come with my guy. We’ve been in a relationship since 4 years. Both our families know about us. Now say, do you have a problem?)”
The whole theatre went silent and after a while, many broke into applause, shutting the mouths of those critiquing the couple and the film.
Have a look at his full post here:
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Several people online, including Ayushmann Khurrana and Bhumi Pednekar left messages of support. Have a look:
Sometimes, all it takes is the courage to speak up.