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Stop! That! Train!

By Golu
Coming out of the same studio that gave us RuPaul's Drag Race, and stacked with a whole crew of former contestants, Stop! That! Train! plays like RuPaul basically taking a bow for the entire franchise she's built. It's not really a gay film in the traditional sense, but with so many drag stars from Ru's shows popping up alongside a few cameos from well known out gay actors, I figured it earns a spot on this blog anyway. The whole thing is completely over the top, packed with GenZ slang, loud flashy visuals, and humor that's constantly winking at you knowing how ridiculous it is. Going in you'd assume it's meant to be a laugh riot, and a lot of critics online seem to be eating it up, but I just couldn't get into it at all. I've never really been someone who vibes with campy silly stuff like this, so honestly my reaction doesn't surprise me one bit. The setup follows Tess and DeeDee, two low level stewardesses who sneak onto the fancy Glamazonian E...
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Still About Section 377 (Hindi) (Web Series)

By Golu
Amit Khanna is back with the sequel to his mostly entertaining web series All About Section 377 which I reviewed here. Both that and this series and freely available on youtube to watch. The series comes at a time when India's supreme court gave a verdict in favour of LGBT community decriminalizing homosexuality in the country.

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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