Movie Review (Dear Dad)

"What would you do if your father was GAY?" 

Could you even digest that? How weird would it be for you to react or respond? That is exactly what happens to Shivam, a teenager in the movie "Dear Dad". His father Nitin, in his late 30s finds it difficult to stick to the family, hiding his real sexual orientation. He even wants to part his ways with his wife but finds it difficult to convey that to his son. He drives his son back to the hostel so that he can have some we-time to discuss and sort out the matter. 

Things get worsen when Shivam overhears Nitin's confession to his grandpa. He feels infuriated, dumped, and devastated at the same time. Nitin being a calm and composed father lets his son vent out his emotions and bears with his tantrums and sulking.  

The first half thus revolves around Nitin's confession and Shivam's reaction to that. After a leap of a few months, in the second half, Nitin's wife Nupur, being a dynamic and logical woman is shown to be married to another person. 

Despite all these,  Nitin and Nupur don't show any enmity and take good care of their teenage son and the little daughter. It shows, staying in a meaningless relationship is not mandatory to support each other or to give a good upbringing to the children. Even a divorced couple can be good parents provided there is a good understanding and rapport.

The movie unleashes the agonies of a person as an alienated gay, guilty father and clueless husband. His single bitter confession changes his son's perspective on him. As a teenager, his son Shivam is not mentally prepared to listen to his father or to empathize with him. 

In fact the whole society has been conditioned to think this whole stuff of  LGBTQ as a taboo. But the director has shown a light-hearted approach through his carefully chosen characters and perfectly woven dialogues. Nitin confesses that he is gay to his senile and immobile father who can't reciprocate anything to whatever he says. It shows how he desperately needs a person to share his inner most secret which has been troubling him for long. When Shivam disagrees with Nitin for planning to leave his mother, he honestly admits that it was his mistake to have confused feeling good with being in love.

Each character in the movie depicts the society in one or the other way. Nupur being the portrayal of a loving wife all the while being an independent woman chooses her own life without cribbing about her husband; Shivam being a  naive teenager who at first juggles to understand his father, finally turns out to be the one who is so proud of whatever his father is. 

I personally admire the way in which the movie progresses and ends. The director didn't bother to give a happy ending but the one which let me stretch my lips in a mild smile. 

The cinematography and music were real feast to my senses. The dialogues were simple yet impactful to keep the audience hooked. 

Especially these dialogues..

* The one between Nitin and Nupur when Nitin feels jealous.That was totally frank and friendly without any grudges... 

Nitin: he (the second husband) seems to be old...👴

Nupur: ....at least he is straight!...

* The one between Nitin and Shivam on being gay... That broke the biggest myth about LGBTQ people in the simplest way possible.

Shivam: Are you attracted to all the men you see?

Nitin: Are you attracted to all the girls you see? 

The cast of the movie indeed is so powerful. Right from the little girl, the grand parents and the teacher who appear on screen for a short span of time to the media celebrity, Nitin and Shivam who are there throughout the movie, everyone has played his role so well. 

Aravind Swamy❤️ has played his Jadoo🪄 on screen as always. The dad and son duo was lovely and adorable.

On the whole, it was indeed a satisfying movie in less than a couple of hours. It was open-ended, but I was totally okay with that as it might give way to FANFICTION 😀

PS

I chanced upon this gem of a movie on Disney+Hotstar and would suggest the same to anyone who loves the genre of family drama🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼