Here is the review of the movie 'Dear Dad'. ‘Dear Dad’ is a feel-good movie directed by Tanuj Bhramar. The movie stars Arvind Swamy, Himanshu Sharma, Ekavali Khanna, Aman Uppal and Bhavika Bhasin in the lead roles. The story revolves around Nitin Swaminathan (Arvind Swamy) and his 14-year-old son Shivam Swaminathan (Himanshu Sharma). It also involves Nupur Swaminathan (Ekavali Khanna), wife of Nitin and Vidhi Swaminathan (Bhavika Bhasin), their daughter. Aman Uppal plays alongside as Aditya Taneja, a reality television show star.
I got to watch this movie on June 28, 2019 during my college's Pride Month celebration, which also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Movement in the US.
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Shivam spends his summer vacation happily with his family and it is now time for him to leave for his boarding school. While he is planning to go there with his friends, his dad Nitin seems to have other plans. Nitin insists on dropping Shivam in his school by himself as Nitin wants to have some dad-son talks and also has a revelation to make. Nitin and his wife Nupur have decided to get divorced as Nitin reveals to his wife that he is gay. The dad-son duo begins the road trip and Shivam doesn’t seem to be having much fun as he misses going with his friends. While on the way, Shivam offers a lift to Aditya Taneja but Nitin flees before Aditya joins as he wants to have some alone time with his son. They stop by at Nitin’s parents' place. Nitin decides to reveal about his sexual identity to his dad first. Unfortunately, Shivam overhears this and becomes disgusted and gets angry. They both leave and continue their road trip and bump into Aditya Taneja again, only this time he joins them. A whole lot of events happen and Aditya tries to tell Shivam that his dad being gay doesn’t change anything and his dad will always be his dad. Shivam later realizes and accepts his dad for who he is and they both set out on a road trip, again.
I pretty much liked the storyline of this movie. To me, it felt like a bold attempt considering it in the Indian context. The acting was all realistic and totally amazing. The entire movie had incredible cinematography that beautifully captured the subtlest of all emotions and the beauty of the hills.
On the other hand, I felt like the story wasn’t strong enough to portray the complex emotions involved in such a father-dad relationship. The movie was a bit simple and light considering the sensitivity involved in such a life situation. The dialogues weren’t strong enough to create an impact on the audience’s mind. In India where we are just beginning to acknowledge the existence of homosexuals, we need intense stories that can stir emotions in the viewer’s heart and raise questions in the viewer’s mind. I feel like ‘Dear Dad’ has slightly failed to do the latter. There were loose ends in the story which were only filled by scenic views and background scores. The humor and sarcasm in the movie didn’t seem to blend well with the story but rather seemed like they were added just for the sake of having those elements in the movie. The ending where they both set out on a road trip was so blunt that I didn’t realize the movie ended until the end credits came up. It was like things happened too fast in the movie right from the revelation to the acceptance without much needed minute details.
I would call this movie a ‘must watch’ due to the sensitivity of the subject and incredible acting performances that scored clearly above the plot. Not to forget, it is a bold attempt by Tanuj being his directorial debut. The movie also delivers a beautiful message - The sexual identity of a person doesn’t define him. His personality and character do. The movie will also encourage people to unveil their true identity and embrace the same.
Works Cited
- Dear Dad. Directed by Tanuj Bhramar, performances by Aravind Swamy, Ekavali Khanna, and Himanshu Sharma, Indian Film Studios and Peppermint Studios, 2016.
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