Badhaai Do starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pendekar is a film with two queer protagonists who enter a lavender marriage to portray themselves as a heterosexual couple. The film has been lauded by several people for its sensitive depiction, including people from the LGBTQIA+ community.
A user took to Instagram to share his experience of watching the film with his partner in a theatre, and how they were surrounded by several homophobic people, whom they confronted fearlessly.
The user, Priyanjul Johari, spoke about how a group of friends in a row ahead were constantly laughing during same-sex couple scenes and passing homophobic remarks. According to Johari, another man a few rows ahead was hooting whenever a kissing scene was shown, something that made the couple very uncomfortable.
He notes that his partner asked him to remain calm, but Johari, having watched Rajkummar Rao's coming out monologue, was moved to tears and showed his appreciation by hooting and clapping at the scene. As soon as he did this, the man in the front row made fun of Johari and said, "Yeh pakka GAY hoga (He is definitely gay)."
This was the last straw for Johari, who got up from his seat and yelled,"Ha bro gay hu! Apne bande ke saath aaya hu. 4 saal se relationship mein bhi hu. Dono ke ghar pe bhi pata hai. Bol... Koi dikkat? (Yes dude, I'm gay. I've come with my boyfriend. We've been together since the last 4 years. Both our families know too. Do you have a problem with that?)"
Johari describes what happens next and writes, "Everyone head me yell. The whole theatre fell dead silent. And after a few seconds, everyone unanimously burst into applause. Literally, the whole theatre was cheering and hooting for me."
He also wrote that the best part was that the man and the group of friends in the front rows remained silent for the rest of the film and did not utter a single word.
The post has since gone viral and Priyanjul has received a lot of appreciation for his courage. Bhumi Pednekar and Ayushmann Khurrana, along with Chum Darang who also stars in the film have commented too. Check out the reactions here.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)