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Dustbin
  • 4/5

Romil and Jugal (R&J) is a modern-day Indianised adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and quite evidently, the protagonists have been named after these characters. They are neighbours – cool dudes coveted by girls, but they are different. They like men. Jugal (Manraj Singh) is someone who has come to terms with his sexuality long ago in his early teens, and has made attempts to brush girls aside since then. On the other hand, Romil (Rajeev Siddhartha) is still struggling to accept himself, and pretends to be interested in girls due to obvious reasons. But destiny has planned to bring them together, and as you would expect it, hell breaks loose.

The fun thing about this series is, it has all the elements of a typical Indian series or movie – romance, melodrama, music and dance, angry parents. But it does not get you bored. It is different, and progressive, to say the least. It is wonderful to see how entertainment has moved on from treating homosexuality as a comic relief.

R&J looks like one such attempt to change people’s minds for the better through a manner that the Indian audience buys – Bollywood style.

There are these elements of North-South Indian antagonisms to make it more spicy, but due to some divine blessing, the parents are already progressive enough not to make that an issue. Even more pleasantly surprising, in one scene Jugal’s father reprimands him for not kissing a girl because doing so would have gotten him in the good books of her father, who happens to be his (Jugal’s father’s) boss. You heard me right. Utopian. Facepalm. You would only wish you had a father like that, but not if you are gay. No matter how liberal or educated they are, Indian parents will never accept in one go that their children might have different choices. And the fact that it is completely natural.

Now the story is pretty clear and it just remains to be seen whether they have a happy ending, or end up in a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet. Well I know it already. Maybe you can find out for yourself. In the end, what is to be understood is that, some people are born in a way that might be beyond our comprehension. But so are we to them. They still love us, and live with us. They accept us for what we are and know that it is not something contrived. I hope this series will help, so called straight people to get more empathetic to the whole idea.

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