'Badhaai Do' review: Nuanced take on lavender marriage

LGBTQIA community and its concerns, which include legal battles, conflicts and natural rights, seem to be the interest of Bollywood's new generation of filmmakers'. Harshvardhan Kulkarni joins the list with 'Badhaai Do' which is nuanced film with an intriguing narrative style.

The bold film raises questions on existence, acceptance, denial and the natural right to live life of choice. The film attempts to set certain things straight.

It deals with a lavender marriage between a police inspector (Rajkummar Rao) and physical education instructor (Bhumi Pednekar). It is undertaken as a marriage of convenience to conceal the socially stigmatised sexual orientation of the two.

Set in Dehradun, the film takes off with discussions on marriage in the conservative milieu. Situation compels an accidental meeting between the two, who are no interested in the opposite sex. Under pressure by their parents, both in their 30s, forge an alliance for the marriage of convenience based on an agreement. However, they fail to anticipate the possible inevitabilities.

The marriage runs into complications after Suman (Pednekar) falls for Rimjhim (Chum Darang), a pathology lab assistant. Situation becomes more complicated when the elders want the couple to have a baby.

Kulkarni dedicates much of the time to describe the ordeal of the two before an effective climax. The several sub-plots of father-daughter and mother-son relationship, a lesbian's selfless love for a baby, rejection of a lesbian into a family system, sense of loss created by partner's departure, partner's possessiveness and its suffocating impact, and fresh hope after finding a partner transform the film into thought-provoking effort.

Apart from unequivocally championing the cause of inclusivity and individuality, it stresses the importance of permitting same-sex couples to adopt children. At times the film's pace slackens. Rajkummar Rao steals the show while is Bhumi is impressive.