Badhaai Do starring Rajkumar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar’s received mixed reviews from the audience and critics. And, recently, the movie was released on Netflix.
The movie is based on the concept of a lavender marriage. Shardul Thakur (played by Rajkummar Rao) is a police officer, who belongs to a typical middle-class family and is gay. On the other hand, Sumi (played by Bhumi Pednekar) is a PT teacher who is a lesbian. Both Shardul and Sumi enter into a marriage of convenience to escape the family pressure of getting married.
The movie also opens about the several reasons why the two choose to get married rather than coming out to their respective families. Though eventually, the families come to know about their sexual orientations.
When Shardul’s mother catches Sumi and her partner Rimjhim in an intimate act, Sumi is left with no other choice but to tell everything to her family. Following this, what happens to Sumi is simply heart-breaking.
While Sumi’s brother calls her names like ‘pervert’, and, ‘ghatiya’, her mother blames Sumi for everything.
While Shardul attempts to stay quiet to hide his secret but the courage he shows in to come out towards the end of the film is what makes this movie so special.
This particular scene where the entire Thakur family asks Shardul how he couldn’t see that his wife, was a lesbian. While the whole family believes that Shardul is the victim in this marriage, he gathers the courage to shut his brother-in-law, who labels Sumi’s sexual orientation as a disease.
“Aap toh doctor ho na jiyaji, aapko toh pata hona chahiye ki yeh koi bimari nahi hai.” – ShardulÂ
This awkward conversation about his sexual orientation comes as a shock to his middle-class small-town Indian family. While he opens up how he felt alone throughout his life, he makes it clear that there’s nothing wrong with Sumi.
After this impactful hard-hitting scene, Shardul goes to the terrace and calls Sumi. He just cries and cries. Post which, he says: “Sumi, humne bol diya. Sabko bata diya.”And as Shardul and Sumi share a moment of inner peace and freedom, you just couldn’t stop but applaud their courage.Â
And, with passing time, the acceptance comes and it’s a refreshing change to watch!
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*All the images are screengrab from NetflixÂ
