Shubh mangal zyada saavdhan

‘Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan’ Shows Imperfect, Ugly Process of Unlearning Homophobia

The first time the two male leads in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan — Aman Tripathi (Jitendra Kumar) and Kartik Singh (Ayushmann Khurrana) — make out in the middle of a wedding among family members, chaos ensues. A perturbed uncle throws his jacket over their heads, making up a story about an obscure wedding ritual that requires two men touching their mouths; the father stares, dumbfounded, at the two, seemingly oblivious men making out under the jacket; the mother looks around, confused, never having been in such a situation before and mostly concerned with restoring normalcy.

Set in a conservative middle-class household in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, one would think two men kissing would have incited a stronger reaction than simply bewilderment, but in doing so, Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan succeeds in showing a kind of homophobia we never really encounter in pop culture — one that stems from ignorance, not malice; one that manifests as confusion, not a threat.

The successful portrayal of coming to terms with homophobia, however, is buried deep, deep down in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan. A majority of the film oscillates between a #loveislove Public Service Announcement served up by Singh at the most inopportune of times (he starts lecturing an unsuspecting child singing the “Jack and Jill” nursery rhyme that it should be “Jack and Johnny”) and an awkward improv skit that seldom has any direction or relevance in its comedy. Add a dollop of the ill-defined, savior-like dudeness that Khurrana brings to Singh’s character, and it becomes difficult to see the valuable message Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan is propagating — tolerating the movie till the end becomes a feat in itself.

If Khurrana is unconvincing in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan — jumping from a macho man to an anti-homophobe preacher to an emotional victim within minutes — Kumar’s Tripathi is more grounded, stable, and persuasive. As much as Khurrana comes off as a hetero guy pretending to be brave enough to play a gay character on screen, Kumar delivers the best, most compelling performance of the film.