This is the second vertical AI BL drama I've sat through, and honestly I went in knowing better. I had it on while I was doing cardio at the gym, and what struck me was just how much the plot echoed the last one I watched. Same step brother romance angle, same mystery girlfriend showing up near the end, same extra guy pining after one of the leads. Genuinely the only thing going for it was the runtime, the whole thing wrapped up in forty five minutes flat. The setup kicks off with Finn moving schools because his mom just married into money. He finds out his new step brother Aiden goes to the same place, and he's warned to keep his distance from him. Their first run in at school is rocky, just like you'd expect, but there's this odd pull between them neither can shake off. Finn keeps telling himself not to read into it because Aiden's straight and openly homophobic. Things shift when some kids start bullying Finn and the student council president, Ryan, steps in to ...
The story is about Mansi, an aids counselor, in a public health office in Mumbai, India. The film focusses on her and her five counselees whose story revolve with or around AIDS and HIV positive. We meet a bar dancer who is the only source of income for his family. When he has no option left with him after the bar is closed , he takes up prostitution and is forced to do unsafe sex because otherwise no one gives him money. We also meet an aging prostitute, who is diagnosed with HIV by accident. Suddenly all her clients are gone and now all she worries is about her daughter, her well-being and her future. We also meet Nishit, an intravenous drug user, who finally catches HIV because of his own negligence and is now struggling to first accept himself that he is positive and then later tell his girlfriend about it. Finally there is a gay couple. Kiran works with Mansi in the center who is in a very happy and romantic relationship with his boyfriend. He is a happy go lucky guy whose all dreams are shattered when he is diagnosed HIV positive and it turns out that his boyfriend cheated on him. A counselor’s ethics demand that she maintain confidentiality, be objective and not get emotional. But for a sensitive young woman like Mansi it is difficult to remain unaffected. Her true feelings are reflected in 68 pages of her personal diary, and hence the title.
Showing a gay couple and a transexual bar dancer is a huge jump for indian cinema. The good thing is that the film maker doesn't make an issue of either of the two. The focus of all sties is still HIV and AIDS. I wish this films gets more publicity and i seen by more people in India. Now if I had to do a critical view of the film, the direction of the film was very poor and of a novice but really when the intentions behind are so novel, the question is, how much of this other stuff matters. Acting by characters is ok but some stories are either half baked or use somehow have a magical happy conclusion. It doesn't matter though, like I said before. The stories have the capacity to touch, heal, change lives and hopefully bring about a better understanding of their fight to live with dignity. Many people might be able to identify themselves with some of these characters.
A film that was much need in India for people of India.My ratings are gonna be from both critical and educational perspective. (5.5/10)
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