An Inspiring LGBTQ+ Film That Shifts Perspectives: Badhaai Do
Badhaai Do uses deadpan dark comedy and a marriage of convenience between two closeted people to explore family pressure, sexual orientation, chosen family…
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If we're going to talk about an LGBTQ+ film worth watching this year, the Indian movie Badhaai Do — released on Netflix under a playful Thai title — is a compelling choice. I'd encourage you to watch this LGBTQ+ film at least once, because it vividly portrays both identity and love across the spectrum of sexuality.
"You're not interested in men, are you?"
"No, I'm not."
"But I am... so let's get married."
Shardul is a young man who dreamed of becoming a bodybuilder but chose to become a police officer to fulfill his family's wishes. Suman is a woman with the profile of a national-level athlete who went on to become a physical education teacher, and who is attracted to other women.
The whole story begins when Suman uses a dating app to meet other women and arranges to meet someone from the app. It turns out the other person is a man posing as a woman, who wants to blackmail her into having sex with him. The scandal reaches Captain Shardul, who at that very moment is being pressured by his own family to marry a woman and carry on the family line.
The two of them come from similar family situations, each carrying a secret they can share only with someone who bears the same kind of secret. As the pressure from their families mounts to the point of an arranged marriage — and even though Suman pulls out every trick she can, spinning a tale of a curse that supposedly killed off her past fiancés through her own bad luck — she finally decides to marry Shardul, at least to solve the immediate problem for both families. All the while, Shardul himself has a boyfriend he is seeing.
After the wedding, Suman moves into Shardul's government-provided police quarters. It is there that she meets Rimjhim, a young medical technician of Chinese descent. At first sight, Suman is reminded of a love she once felt for a female friend — even though that woman now has a family and a husband of her own.
The two of them fall in love quickly. Suman decides to bring Rimjhim to live with them, making it a crowded household of three under Shardul's roof. Although Shardul is not happy about it, he has no choice but to give way to Suman, out of sympathy for a woman who has never truly been loved.
Things grow even more chaotic as time passes and Suman still doesn't become pregnant, as both families expect. Eventually the meddling mother-in-law goes so far as to come and check on whether her son is doing his "homework," whether anything unusual is going on between the couple, and even to coach Suman on how to seduce her husband.
Along the way, the film also depicts the strained relationships among the married relatives and siblings on both sides of the family. Some have sibling conflicts, some go through divorces, and the film shows that married life between a man and a woman doesn't always end happily either. It's a portrayal of how ordinary a couple's life really is: no matter your gender or your orientation, you are just like everyone else, and the problems you face are no different simply because your preferences differ.
The Tone of the LGBTQ+ Film
Although the film is told with humor, it's a deadpan, dark comedy about two people who don't love each other but have to put on a lavish display of affection just to escape the prying eyes of their families. In the end, the secret they've hidden comes out, and everyone learns that Suman is not the "normal" woman they assumed she was.
"May I ask you one thing? Please don't tell anyone that I'm like you," Shardul says to Suman, once his mother has realized that Suman has been involved with a woman.
That cutting line, from someone who was once on the same "team," only sends Suman deeper into despair. The rejection from her family, and from the brother for whom she sacrificed everything only to be treated with disgust simply because she isn't "normal" in their eyes — all of it is reflected in the young woman's heartbreak.
Shardul's family is deeply upset, convinced that their son has been deceived all along, and they all speak cruelly of Suman as "abnormal." In the end, Shardul breaks down in tears and tells his mother the truth: no one deceived anyone — it was all an agreement the two of them made together.
The Ending of Badhaai Do
In the end, Suman wants a child of her own through adoption, while Shardul, too, wants to become a doting father. "The first time, we got married because you wanted us to. This time, we're getting married again because the law requires it (so that we can adopt). Now the decision is up to you," Suman tells both her own parents and Shardul's, who have all gathered to talk.
At last the couple holds another wedding, so that together they can adopt a child. The lovely final scene comes as Suman's mother invites Rimjhim to sit beside Suman while she carries out the adoption ceremony — just as Shardul has his own young man beside him.
It may not be a sweet, dreamy ending, but it reflects that we are all human — and that is the real strength of this film. It doesn't insist that people of diverse gender identities turn out any one particular way that society expects of them. Everyone can feel pain, can cry, and can be overwhelmingly happy with someone they long for. Even the characters of the two families keep the film from being nothing but drama; they also reflect the perspective of parents and families who are "beginners" at coping with something they never knew about before — including the shortcomings of sex education for today's young people.
So often we long for understanding from our families, yet we forget that sometimes they, too, are becoming parents for the very first time, meeting these experiences for the first time, just as we are. That is something we should always keep in mind: everyone can make mistakes and put them right — and parents are no exception.
"Family is about learning, forgiving, and always growing together."
Read other interesting articles
- A Safe Space: Do We Have to Wait for Someone to Build It?
- The Safety of Gender-Affirming Hormone Therapy Today
Verified references
Links and relevance to the article’s main topic were reviewed on 13 August 2026. Each source supports only the scope stated in the original document and does not replace personalised medical, legal, or service advice.
- OHCHR: LGBT rights fact sheet Accessed 13 August 2026
