Nani's Gang Leader (2019)

Let me get this straight (lol): I absolutely hated the cringe-worthy gay representation here, especially because it had a lot of potential to be funny, without being so disrespectful. It could have been an interesting take on the objectification and sexualisation of bodies (most commonly, female bodies) that is so normalised in Indian cinema, but no. The whole thing just came off as a massive "eeeks" and made me want to shake whoever was responsible for it by the shoulders and question them "Why would you do this to us? WHY?"

Apart from this though, I have zero complaints from the movie. As a lit kid, I was already in love with the premise, but it turned out so much better than even my expectations. The way they carried out the "found family" (one of my favourite tropes of all time) narrative was super wholesome, and had me feeling (and crying) a lot throughout the movie. It was also super hilarious, in order to maintain the equilibrium, ESPECIALLY Nani as Pencil Parthasarthy. Not only was it a very well-written character, but Nani himself was really good in all the comic bits (I think I'm a Nani fangirl now). One of my favourite scenes was when he sees Priya (Priyanka Arul Mohan) for the first time through a small crack in the door- his facial expressions are just too good, I laughed my ass off. Side note- I paused and went to see the OG music video for the song that's played in the background (very educational) for full context (my commitment issues have evaporated when it comes to TFI), and that song lives rent free in my head now. And as always, the thought of teenage Sridevi romancing a visibly ageing NTR is making me want to punch a man very hard in the nose. 

Honestly, the movie is worth watching just for Nani's dynamics with the five women. The trajectory of his relationships with them really flesh his character out, and it's all so heartwarming. My favourite was his bond with Chinnu, and the whole birthday bit was just... *cries in Telugu*. 

In conclusion, the ending shot with Priya had me ugly sobbing for the fifth time while watching this movie, so yeah. This is thaaaat kinda movie. Be prepared. And I can't believe I haven't talked about Lakshmi yet, but the truth is that she is such a goddess that words have failed me. 

PS- I kind of wish that I had seen Chiru's OG Gang Leader (1991) earlier (the first paragraph of its Wikipedia itself is quite intense), but it's okay (mostly because its subtitles don't exist). 

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