Homosexuality was just decriminalized in India in 2018 but there has been a small steady flow of LGBT movies for a few years before that. Because of the legal situation and society’s taboos, many were made on the down-low and struggled to find a way to access the audience they deserved. However some managed to get global releases, and although their community may have a different sensibility about their sexuality, many of the situations they deal with are the same as ours in other parts of the world.
Same-sex marriage is still not recognized but it is currently being challenged in the Courts and a Judgement is expected later this year. It’s probably no coincidence then that the Indian movies that reach us are either coming-out tales or love stories.
Cobalt Blue is the latest of these that has found a home on Netflix. Written and directed by Sachin Kundalkar who adapted it from his novel of the same name and which follows a story of a brother and sister who fall in love with the same man.
Tanay (Neelay Mehendale) is a good-looking but nerdy college kid with dreams of being a writer. A tad pretentious as he has named his turtle Pablo Neruda who lives in the fish pond and he talks to him daily about his aspirations ….. “I want to write about Russian boys in Goa!” He thinks he is about to get more freedom at home when his grandparents die suddenly and the large room they had occupied in the family home is now free.
His younger sibling Anjura (Anjali Sivaraman) who is obsessed with playing hockey and saving the environment singlehandedly, always wants to grab the room for herself. However, both of them are thwarted when their mother mentions it is going to be rented out to a paying guest.
Although we never learn the name of the newcomer (Prateik Babbar) we very quickly discover everything about this hunky artist/photographer who transforms the room into a stunning eclectic studio that overwhelms Tanay. He has big puppy eyes for everything, especially the new lodger, and is very quickly rewarded with some very hot lovemaking.
That’s the part of the film when it turns into scenes from a soft porn movie although director Kundalkar fastidiously ensures that the nudity is circumspect and the lovemaking is so discreetly filmed that we must listen to the groaning to be sure its the real thing.
Meanwhile, Anjura is under a great deal of pressure from her parents to get married. Evidently in their culture, she must be wed before her other brother, who has already picked out his bride and is chomping at the bit. However not only does she show no interest in boys at all, but her best friend is a nun, which sets up all sorts of warning bells in our heads.
Turns out that was some sort of ruse on the director’s part, as when her parents lay more pressure on Anjuna she runs away from home. And she isn’t alone. She’s gone off with the handsome lodger who had been two-timing with her brother all the time. An anguished Tanay responds by throwing himself into the bed of his Literature teacher who has been after him for some time.
That’s the part when you think that maybe Kundalkar had intended this to be an Indian take on Call Me By Your Name. What he has ended up with is a charming and affectionate tale that has a slight soap-opera feel to it that I think will find its audience with viewers reared on Bollywood movies and those of us who are so intrigued to learn about being queer today in this region of the world
