Straight Hindi Movie
From the trailers, the concept of Straight seemed very interesting. And with Vinay Pathak headlining a film with the lead character being confused with his sexual orientation, you expect a mature take on the subject. But what you get is a silly film, with just about one scene that is worth a mention.
An Indian restaurant called 'Gaylord' is run by Pinu (Vinay Pathak) in London. A simple soul at heart, Pinu has many complexes - a special one being that he is a virgin and has experienced no intimacy with a woman. To top that, his biggest fear is to be laughed at by people... an ever-repeating phenomenon with him. Pinu is quite an introvert and has no real friends... the closest he has ever gotten to a friendship is with his foster brother Rajat, who is quite a contrast to his own personality.
One day, a young Indian fellow called Kamlesh comes to his restaurant and asks for a job as a stand-up comedian. Quit thrown off, Pinu initially refuses but finally lets him join as a cook, who also does a stand-up act in the evenings. On the same day, he hires a new cashier - Renu, a young art student from India, who has a passion for caricatures. Life changes dramatically for Pinu as the business at Gaylord picks up.
One fine day, Pinu is thrown in to a daze as he walks away from the restaurant... he has discovered a totally new fear - he might be Gay!
Straight suffers due to poor writing and horribly amateurish direction. Seriously, what were actors like Vinay Pathak and Gul Panag thinking when they agreed to do this? The film is a drag from the word goes and seemed more like a 5 hour long film. The below average songs, not-so-funny scenes and silly dialogues add to the runtime.
In one scene, Pinu realizes that being gay is not just about having sex with the same sex, but also about love. In all the mediocrity, this is the only scene that stays with you, and probably the only sensible scene in the film.
Vinay Pathak tries his best, but an actor is only as good as the film he features in. An average performance in a quality film will be remembered for long. But a good performance in a forgettable film will go unnoticed. Gul Panag is okay. Siddhartha Makkar was quite good. The rest are terrible.
To sum up, Straight disappoints and so does everyone else involved in the making. The sole exception being Vinay Pathak.
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