Is this technically a gay show? Even after getting through the whole thing, that's still kind of tricky to answer. There's never any physical intimacy shown between the two leads, not even a single kiss. What it gives you instead is something that goes way deeper than that. It traces an emotional bond that spans a full decade between two guys who are both dealing with their own baggage, and what they share basically amounts to being soulmates. The story moves across Japan, South Korea, and Berlin. Honestly, whether people want to call what they have a romantic relationship or not doesn't really matter to me. A relationship doesn't need a label like boyfriends attached to it to actually mean something. And closeness doesn't need to be physical to feel genuine. What this show captures is something quieter but way more powerful, a bond rooted in understanding, respect, and just showing up for each other. Across eight episodes, each running 35 to 45 minutes, this is one...
Asif, is a good looking young Muslim man who loves to dress up in drag and perform. The documentary starts with him showing us the death threat emails that he has received. He is popular and successful as his alter ego Asifa Lahore. But behind the expertly applied make-up, she is fighting a major battle on behalf of all those who don't dare to wear their sexuality so openly. Then we see Imran, whose alter ego is Zareena Khan and i looking of love everywhere. She gets lots of proposals from men all the tim, but ultimately they (Muslim married men, in most cases), want to just have sex with her because they feel that since she is in drag, they are still straight. And finally we have Ibrahim, you gay man, who grew up in Mauritius, recently came out and has supportive family and now wants to venture into drag. We see Asif training and nurturing him for his debut. All is not hunky dory though. Asif also wants to hold a walk to bring more prominence in the society for gay asians but is very disappointed when its the Britishers who show up for the march but none of the gay asian community shows up. She is very disheartened. But ultimately, things change for her when she is nominated for Attitude magazine’s pride awards, which she eventually wins as well.
The documentary shows quite a few examples, specially in the case of Zareena Khan, the difficulty for many LGBT Muslims in expressing their true identity. Unlike most documentaries, this one was not boring or bleak. In fact, the characters they picked had interesting stories to tell, good narration and direction; expertly injecting the subject matter with a hefty dose of humour. It is undoubtedly very brave of the three main characters who had the guts to open their hearts out in open for the world to see without fearing for their life. They can be role models for a lot of LGBT youth , not necessarily of Muslim background. In an interview apparently Asifa mentioned “I’m a Muslim, I’m British/Pakistani and I’m also a drag queen. I totally understood the risks and I totally understood the impact that it would have on my life and I decided to do it because the issue is really important to me."
An eye opener for me in various ways, more documentaries like these deserve to be shown on public platforms throughout the world. (6.5/10)
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