I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
This film was an amateurish attempt at shedding light at the whole section 377 of Indian society when homosexuality was criminalized again in 2013 and it was only in 2018 it was again decriminalized. Not only the story could have been attempted in a short story, the acting, the direction and the story were all as if they were done as part of a college project.
Vilom is a lonely, isolated guy who works as a YouTuber and is trying to find social media attention. Amay a young dynamic boy comes to this city from a village in Punjab. He works as a hairdresser in a salon. The 2 boys meet and somehow fall in love and before you know, they have moved in together. A young beautiful girl Nivi is struggling with her acting career. She meets Vilom during his new social experimental video project and falls for him, But Vilom tells him he is gay. Amay's family is after him to get married. The worst is yet to come. Amay and Vilom continue to grow in their relationship but an incident of them getting brutally raped by the cops, using section 377. This incident finally breaks their strength and they decide to eventually take a break. Vilom is heart broken when he sees Amay going back home with another girl.
The film is divided into three episodes named Desire, Love and Shame. The film tries to dabble in multiple concepts but the directions and execution is so bad. Vilom’s passion for his craft and art is questioned by his love. Nivi, a woman who gets engrossed into her passion of acting yet when the time comes to face the truth, she develops cold feet. Amay, a man who is deeply in love with Vilom, struggles with his own insecurities. It's actually the part 3 where Amay and Vilom go through a night of inhuman torture that leaves us shocked as an audience. But other than that bad acting, bad dialogues, amateurish execution fails to deliver this film at any film. I would not recommend this film at all. (2/10)

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