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 ...
This series continues from where it left. Rohit's partner Sid is back in his village and has no courage to come out to his parents. He breaks up with Rohit over phone and agrees to marry a girl. On his cousin Suresh's insistence (who now has become a TV star), Rohit, Suresh and Chhotu decide to come to the village to win back over Sid. Sid lives in a joint family and the bride's family is in the neighbourhood. Slowly, Rohit takes over himself to win hearts of everyone in the family while hiding the actual relationship between him and Sid. Sid's girlfriend slowly realizes the truth and supports them. After a bit of drama, the relationship is partially accepted. There is a simultaneous parallel track about the struggles faced by the hijra (eunuch) community, especially in rural India. We meet Bhakti, who is constantly shunned by villagers. This is when Suresh comes into her life, gives her the respect and friendship that every human being deserve. Yes, Bhakti falls in love with him but she knows her limits but this never stops Suresh from being a true friend to her.
Unlike the prequel, this series is not only funny but also highlights some major aspects of LGBT community that needs addressing and the eunuch track adds that extra speciality to this. I can't remember if and when such subjects in Indian context were handled on screen. But thankfully the makers have not made it all teary-eyed. The sassiness and sarcasm and fun from part 1 is all maintained here as well. Bhakti's poems are all very good and so is the acting by all actors. My one big complaint about these total of 9 episodes is that, there was a lot of background music in pretty much every episode which slowed down the proceedings for me. Web-series needs to be fast paced and those moments sometimes feel stretched forcing me to fast forward some of them, and this is definitely not good when you can't hold audience's attention for full 100%. But that doesn't take away the fact that makers need to be applauded for the brilliant subject and execution and respect that they have given to the subject. For some people (including myself sometimes), Rohit (played by writer/director Amit Khanna) might seem too stereotypically feminine, but I appreciate the different types of queer men this series continues to show. There is no correct way for gay men to act. Everyone expresses themselves differently and that’s a good thing.
If you are looking for queer content to make you laugh and think at the same time while addressing issues queer people face in India, I highly recommend watching Still About Section 377. (6.5/10)
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