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starryalpacasstuff · 2 months

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Indian BL? FROM 2017????

There's an Indian BL from 2017 that I just watched. And I have incoherent thoughts

Before I continue, massive thanks to my bestie @anixknowsnothin for telling me about this show and proofreading the post for me. You don't even watch bl so I have no idea how you found this, but I'm incredibly grateful nonetheless

Here's the link to where I watched the show from, there's a glitch in the first episode subs where the subs seem to be from another show entirely, but it's only for the first ep and about 50% of the dialogue is in English anyways, so it shouldn't be hard to follow.(My ask box is also always open if there's a specific dialogue/scene in Hindi that you want the translation of)

Edit: The link seems to be region locked, so to watch it you can use a vpn and set your region to India, otherwise the episodes are available on youtube, albeit without subs

Note:- this post is going to have a few mild spoilers throughout, but I'll flag major spoilers in red

It's no secret that India is fairly behind when it comes to queer love shows if we compare it to other Asian countries. While it has a handful of great queer shows and movies, it's still quite a small quantity. Additionally, before this, I'd never watched an Indian show that felt like I was watching a bl (if you have recs, please send them my way!!). I'm not going to get into the technicalities of what feels like a bl and doesn't, because honestly, I'm not completely sure myself. For now, I'm just going based off of vibes and feelings, and this show felt like a bl through and through.

Titled 'Romil and Jugal' after its main characters, the story is a modern, desi, bl remake of the classic story...

Romeo and Juliet

Well, Bad Buddy was the first Thai bl I ever watched, so Romil and Jugal being the first Indian BL I watched just feels right, no?

I didn't actually know that the story was based off of Romeo and Juliet till the second episode, because I didn't bother looking for a synopsis, and jumped right in. However, it's links to Romeo and Juliet quickly became apparent, around the same time I started to see similarities between this show and Bad Buddy. I also did not know that this show came out in 2017 before I googled it, having already watched the entire thing, which was a pretty huge shock, because this BL is progressive by 2024 India standards.

Alright, enough of my rambling. Here's a synopsis of the show in case you haven't heard of it. (I couldn't find an official one, so I did my best to write a spoiler free synopsis)

Ramya happens to start talking to a slightly older woman at an airport, who believes that there is no romance in the younger generation. To prove her wrong, Ramya decides to tell the older woman her brother's love story. The story from the past is shown to us as Ramya narrates it to the woman in the present. Jugal is a closeted 19-year-old who lives with his parents. One day, a family moves into the house next door, and Jugal immediately falls for the son, Romil. The two of them attend the same college, and eventually become friends. The two of them eventually get together, but have to face the challenges of a homophobic society and having parents that hate each other.

I was a little skeptical of the show going in, but the show surpassed all of my expectations in the best way possible. It's no masterpiece, and it has its flaws, but it was far better than what I expected. It had both comical elements and darker themes, and it did not shy away from exploring the darker themes at all. Oh, and it has a few musical numbers. What did you expect? This is India after all.

The show is 10 episodes long, with 20 minutes per episode, and so it does unfortunately fall into some of the pitfalls that shorter shows tend to fall into, namely underdeveloped relationships and rushed endings. I did end up feeling a little bit like it didn't make sense for the pair to sacrifice and suffer as much as they did because they hadn't known each other for very long, and I felt like they should have been given more time to fall in love with each other. But it also could be argued that the show stays true to the play, and Romil and Jugal are dumb teenagers who make mistakes and stick with each other through them. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it.

One thing that I loved the show for was that it showed us that the relationship is not all sunshine and rainbows. They argue, they break up, they get back together, and they do argue even after that. But every time, they eventually work through the issue and reconcile. The show even depicts Romil dealing with internalized homophobia and struggling to reconcile with the fact that he will never be who his family wants him to be. Although I do wish they'd have had more time to explore this, I'd say it was decently depicted and handled. The show really delves into how children are forced to uphold their family's wishes and are constantly put under pressure to make them proud. Although it clearly affects both of them, it's more obvious with Romil, who is expected by his family to date and marry the daughter of his father's boss, whom they think he is dating. There's a metaphor along this theme too, where Romil pretends to like the mango shake that his mom has been making for him since he was a kid, even though he hates it, and when he tries to tell her, he has to act like it was a joke to spare her feelings. The show also goes into the communal mindset of basing your actions off "what will people think?", and you can see how a lot of the characters' actions throughout the show are haunted by this question. Some of Romil and Jugal's earlier disagreements are due to this very mindset.

The show also very candidly depicts the extreme homophobia of society in India. Romil and Jugal had to constantly hide who they were, always having to keep up a mask and I felt that reach somewhere deep inside me. When the pair come out, the show really shows how ugly homophobia can be in India. Their parents immediately disown them. They're mocked in college and wrongfully suspended for a fight that was provoked by other students. Very, very few people stand with them, and the pair very quickly realize that now that they are out, they simply cannot live in the city anymore. So with the help of Jugal's best friend and her mother, they flee to Mumbai, where they get jobs and live as paying guests with a friend of the aforementioned mother. But, even in Mumbai, the masks stay up. They have to act like cousins, for fear of being persecuted. The series depicted the worst-case scenario that so many of us live in fear of, so watching it was something of a cathartic experience for me.

Another thing that the show did quite well is showing how different people and their mindsets can be. Jugal's best friend, Ahalya, and her mom are very supportive, and they help the pair out quite a bit. Ahalya's mother provided a safe house for the pair and helped them find a fresh start. Meanwhile, Romil and Jugal's parents are incredibly homophobic. There was a scene that really stuck with me, (mild spoiler ahead, skip to the last sentence of the paragraph) where Ahalya's mother came across Jugal's mother, who prided herself on being educated and well-read, searching up how to cure homosexuality. Ahalya's mother then tells her off for calling herself educated yet believing that homosexuality is an illness. It is so important to me that the show depicted both the violent homophobia that permeates Indian society and the surprising, warm acceptance that one can find.

One final thing that I loved about this show so, so much is just how authentically Indian it feels. Asian cultures share a lot in common, but they also have their differences, so seeing a show where I can imagine encountering the characters in real life is really amazing. Rather than something big, it was little things sprinkled throughout the story that warmed my heart. The story felt like something I could hear the local aunties gossiping about. The way it depicts queerness in India hits incredibly close to home.

One thing I've learned watching Asian bls is that the ending of a show can make it or break it, but with this one, I'm stuck. The best way I can describe the ending is absolutely insane and incredibly Bollywood.

I believe this show was supposed to get a second season because the last two minutes of the show leave us with a massive cliffhanger. Now, it's been 7 years, so a second season is unlikely, so I'm simply pretending that the last two minutes of the show never happened. But the ending has so much more to it than just this (Major spoilers for the ending up ahead. I mean it when I say major, this is like going into Bad Buddy knowing that they're going to trick their parents in the end).

About halfway through the show, I remembered what play it was based upon and realized that there was a very real possibility that Romil and Jugal would die. The first half of the last episode leads up to this, telling us that they died when reconciling after an argument in the middle of the road when they were hit by a truck. We get a super emotional scene (yes, I cried) where the two families somewhat reconcile in their grief as they go to the police station to identify the bodies. Except... they're not dead, which is revealed when Romil's father hugs Romil's (not) dead body. They reveal that they planned this to show their family that they still loved their sons. I did say it was like PatPran tricking their parents in the end, didn't I? So the families reunite, Romil and Jugal get jobs in New Zealand and get married, and return to India for a wedding celebration (yes, I cried. again). The ending does feel slightly rushed, but if I'm being honest, it wasn't as terrible as it could have been. Believing that your child is dead for a bit is a somewhat justifiable reason for a sudden change of heart. There's a part where Romil and Jugal tell their parents that if they choose acceptance, they can reconcile, but if they choose to remain prejudiced, Romil and Jugal can simply get back on the stretchers, because they'll be as good as dead to their families anyways and it is *chef's kiss*.

All in all, the show was surprisingly heartfelt and poignant. It had me laughing, kicking my feet and even crying. There's a lot more about this show that I could talk about, but I'm going to stop here for now, and I'll try to write more on it later. This show really does deserve more recognition than it has, and I'm almost mad at myself for not knowing about it before. Am I being really biased when talking about this show? Absolutely. But I do think that this show is a worthwhile watch, and I'd really like to see what other people on here think of the show, especially because I'm aware that I am biased towards this show.

I'm tagging a few people who I know might be interested/have some thoughts about the show because this is a show that I really want to hear other people's opinions on and have conversations about, so I hope you guys don't mind!

@waitmyturtles @lurkingshan @bengiyo @neuroticbookworm

#good lord this post is almost 2k words #i think this is the longest post i have ever written #and there's more thoughts rattling around in my brain about this show #did i convince you to watch the show?#please say yes #i need people to talk to about this show #bl recs #indian bl #indian bl recs #romil and jugal #romil & jugal #bad buddy #i mean it's related #how does everything i write about somehow find it's way to that goddam show #but seriously romil and jugal was surprisingly very good #i did not expect it at all #but i have never been so glad to be proven wrong

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scifiandthedoctor · 6 months

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I really hope this post ages badly and I’m wrong wrongity-wrong but the new promo has prepared me to start saying goodbye to Lokius. Disney you boring predictable no risk storyteller - prove me wrong.

Mobius is perfect though.

#I’ll be glad to be proven wrong though #I hope this post ages badly #loki #lokius #mobius m mobius #lokius was so perfect a real sunshine of a ship

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the5n00k · 1 year

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Remembering my The Ballad of Jane Doe storyboard again before A Soda to Remember and presumably the entirety of season 2 comes and proves my hc theory wrong <3

(the premise behind this is immediately following "scratch"'s death, he can't remember Anything. Who he is, what happened, Nothing. He's confused and scared wandering the Ghost world alone, not knowing anyone and nobody knowing him. After getting drafted as a scarer by the Ghost Council, he stumbles upon the house he chose to haunt in the land of the living and sulks all alone over his terrible fate, becoming bitter and spiteful towards the people outside.)

Maybe one day I'll clean it up and finish it

#the ghost and molly mcgee #tgamm #scratch mcgee #storyboard #animatic #dying a nobody lost and forgotten makes me so emo #I'm glad he has a loving family now :')#i could easily be proven wrong but i want this concept to be canon so bad

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teastarfall · 1 month

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eats ur art 😔👍 d e l i c i o u s

ough,,, thabk u sm,,, ure so kind ❤️

have a six doodle lolz ^_^

#im glad my art is edible #genuinely tho im so happy that people like my art #i used to worry that people wouldn’t but i was proven wrong so hard #do i dare put this in the main tag…#yeah i will ok #little nightmares #little nightmares fanart #ln six

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homecomingvn · 1 year

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I don't know why but I like the fact that there's a trans guy that is just an asshole. not evil or insane, but just your average guy who's not nice to everyone and can hate someone just because they hate them. more asshole characters, please. more character who are just average people but are just mean.

I get what you mean! I'm always down for some 'toxic' gay rep, so I love having some (read: most) of my queer characters being some form of complex; whether they be murderers (*cough cough*) or even just assholes / mean, I think it's fun!

#🖤 - answered #🪳 - roachie scatter #thank you tho genuinely; im glad nico has resonated with you!#also i mean toxic in like a fun way obv - wholesome charas are good too they're just not always my jam #otherwise hoco would look very *very* different shdfksdfi #but i will admit a lil bit of me was worried that some would find issue with nico being trans but also a dickhead -#- glad i was proven wrong! the reception has all been positive so thanks guys :>#📝 - queued

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triangle-strategy-notes · 1 year

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General Avlora’s design/reference materials

Translation notes:

“A cool older woman” was literally translated as “older sister,” referencing the common older sister archetype present in Japanese media.

“Femininity and elegance” might be more accurately read as “feminine elegance.”

“A two-handed sword and no helmet” might have actually meant something more like “a two-handed sword that shows no mercy.”

#triangle strategy #avlora #triangle strategy artbook #I love love love the skirt thing #I kept shying away from a longer skirt in my head because it felt impractical or something #but adding a split makes that work #It looks almost kinda cloak-like and it's just so COOL #also the difference between the two artist comments cracks me up #'yeah I didn't really think a female general would work but I was glad to be proven wrong'#vs. 'OH DANG SHE'S GOT A SWORD THAT'S SICK'#ts artbook character ref sheets

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vganimefanatic · 5 months

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BALDUR'S GATE III WON BABYYYYYYYYYY

#goty 2023 #the game awards #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #i cannot believe it managed to beat totk #i thought for sure totk would win #both were incredible games #but i thought zelda series was more popular than dnd related games #i am so glad i was proven wrong #larian studios ftw #larian studios

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bombrushblushed · 1 year

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Frye print for MEFCC!

#FRYEEE!! !!!!!!!!#she was the only onw I did a print of #frye #splatoon #zingoart #also I'm so glad people recognised her I was worried bc splatoon isn't huuge here #but glad to have been proven wrong :)

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ds2mtoi · 1 month

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a serious post about my experience with amin/khennya.

hi, this is a serious post. but it'll be quick since everything is explained in this twitter thread and the attached google document. (and i don't really wanna keep talking about this anymore, i wanna move on and heal.)

long story short/tldr: amin is a freak who manipulated and abused me, made me fear for my life ever since i was 15 years old. he was 18. he is going to be 20 yrs old this year, and yet he still hasn't changed. he will never change. he is an incredibly dangerous person who will find any possible way to remove the blame on him, he will find all sorts of excuses for his disgusting behaviour. he is rotten to the core. please avoid him for your own safety, he is seriously dangerous. i opened up about my story and my experience with him not because i want to stir up drama or whatever absurd reason like that, but because i want other survivors of abuse to gain courage, to be uplifted from me finally speaking up about my story. i want to tell everyone my story, so that nobody will ever have to experience something like this with amin, or with anybody else for that matter. if you have gone through similar things as i did, please do not be afraid to open up. i hope you will find courage, i hope you will have wonderful people who will support you all throughout your life. thank you for your time, i will be inactive for the following months until i'm ready to be back online again.

#i have been really REALLY mentally exhausted #so exhausted i forgot to talk about this on tumblr LOL #i have been dreading about this moment for over 1 year and a few months #i feared that it would've went wrong.. and everybody would hate me. but i'm glad that my anxiety got proven wrong.#i'm really happy seeing so many people supporting me.. some others even telling me about their experiences. they're really brave too.#and i've had many old faces send me messages as well #it's nostalgic.. a wonderful feeling. i'm really happy. i really missed talking to my old friends.#even though life has been really chaotic . complete hell and just...overall terrible (especially last year)#i will get through it. i'm strong. i'm strong enough to talk about my story. i can do it. and i have my wonderful friends to support me too #one day..i'll pick my pen back up and be motivated to draw again.#one day i'll be ready to go back to everyone and cherish every moment...being as happy as possible.#i'm so glad to be finally free from his abuse. i can be my own person again... i can be myself. i'm free. i don't have to hide anymore.#thank you again. may you have a good day or night.#thoughtcabinet

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reginrokkr · 9 months

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My dear people, it happened. My laptop is back at long last and I'm planning to make it everyone's problem ♥︎

#◟༺✦༻◞ what lays behind the mantle of faux stars ┊ooc.┊#I´m so really happy #I already gave up hope that I'd have it back this week #but I was proven wrong #and I'm glad I was #they changed the keyboard too for some reason #and it's slightly different than what it was like before #so it'll take me a bit to get used to it #but nothing major #it's good to finally be back ♥︎

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guideaus · 1 year

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someone in the skip and loafer tag was live blogging their experience reading the manga, and noticed all the moments showing mika and Nao-chan's relationship, and they seemed very concerned the series is teasing some sort of romantic or sexual relationship between them (if you don't know anything abt the series, the characters are a 16 y/o girl who is friends with the protag and the protag's adult aunt), to which my thought was "Uh, what the fuck are you reading, NO, lol???" but it did remind me of how I recently read Insomniacs After School, and I started it very suspicious of the series when it's been nothing but wholesome so far.

It also reminded me of something that happens online when a piece of media gets popular, but someone does call out an aspect of it. for example, when spy x family's anime came out, there was a post going around criticizing the series, mentioning its light tone regarding fascism, the fact that there's a sis con character, and the author writing a child in a sexually provocative way to try and be a homewrecker to the main protag's family, and what bugged me back then was that there were people sharing the post abt it like "I know nothing about it, but I knew it was weird, I could tell." and I was like ??? Not that they have to read the work itself to see that it's bad, but if they knew nothing about it, all they could know was that the series just has a child as the 2nd protag w the father as the main character... that's not inherently strange or concerning (the bad thing is probably more the author's inability to create well-written female characters). my point is, are these all bad faith judgments from fandoms based on how "problematic" elements aren't a rare occurrence in anime/manga, or...

I just think about how when I read stl, there was literally nothing that made me even think it was suspicious, its just an elder sister-type relationship? So it also reminds me of when people online see familial relationships in media and interpret them as romantic/sexual... so that might be a media literacy thing? i dont really understand where the concern is coming from

#personal #also no offense to them but i blocked them lol. liveblogging is different in the tag than on ur blog FHDSFJDS #maybe thats how ppl felt abt me a year or whatever ago abt trigun in the search. but also its ur fault if ur going in the search #anyways i personally am glad to be proven wrong lmao. insomniacs after school NOT weird!! (so far 😭)#like sp/yxfam/ily. ik us*gi dr*p exists but im not sure i'd voice my concern until i see something?#and ive compared stl to ikoku nikki. that also has a similar relationship. and tbh i read and im like god i wish hs me had that #not to be deep and idk anything abt their life but that also sounds like a very... nuclear family take fhdsfjsd?? why is talking to ur #friend's aunt weird exactly... idk if i can mention her being trans too but im like what is she doing except being nice lol??#ALSO no one interpret this in an anti/proship/whatever way for the love of god. no fandom weirdos pls

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voidtouched-blue · 8 months

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I keep seeing all these cool formats that people have for their posts and I'm just chillin here in awe of how pretty peoples threads look.

Makes me want to really invest some quality time in making some little things here and there for Cyra because she is my precious broken child and I've been neglecting her by not doing a full character design sheet for her. D:

I know most of my rp partners don't care about how I format my replies. Y'all are just fantastic as you are, and I appreciate the fact that everyone I interact with are just super chill individuals. Your pretty posts inspire me!

Once I get my meds back, and I finish the commissions I owe...nothing is going to stop me from making brainrot art of Cyra.

You have been warned!

#ooc #seriously though #all of you are fantastically brilliant individuals with incredible writing talent #I was worried that my return to RP on tumblr was going to be met with just as much silence and disinterest as my previous attempts.#But I am so glad to be proven wrong.

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theheadlessgroom · 9 months

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@beatingheart-bride

It should be a given, she said. It should be a given.

But it wasn't, was it? Both Randall and Elizabeth knew that all too well. It should be a given, Emily and Dorian were both right in that regard...but unfortunately, that just wasn't a guarantee.

Which was why it was so genuinely surprising, so genuinely touching, when someone did treat them like human beings, not just like mere laborers who should be grateful they were given such jobs that made them "useful" at best, or scum of the Earth that should be seldom seen and heard even less so at worst. They shouldn't have to be surprised by the kindness of their fellow man (least of all from the very people they planned to wed), and they knew it...

…but they were just the same.

Still, both of them tried to put these less-than-happy musings out of their minds as Elizabeth let Dorian hold her close, her heart soaring at the sensation of his arms around her waist, as Randall gave Emily a long and tender kiss, his heart skipping a beat at the touch of her lips against his, both of them silently thanking the heavens for these two wonderful lovers, who blessed their lives the way they did, who made their worlds a merrier place to live, even when it didn't seem so.

And provided the plan continued to go off without a hitch, it could be a merry life they could truly share, both Elizabeth and Randall silently promising to makes the lives of Dorian and Emily as joyous and wonderful as they made theirs.

#((i know! past efforts to have a long-running rp blog had kinda fallen through))#((and i guess i assumed this blog would be no different...but then i was proven wrong ultimately))#((and i'm glad for it! i love this fandom; this rp community; and this character))#((who i'm so proud to have seen grow and evolve over the years since i've started this blog))#((and i can't wait to see how he continues to grow and evolve from here on out))#((as i've got no plans to stop anytime soon either!))#((and they really do compliment one another! they may come from different walks of life))#((different classes; different experiences; and so people might assume they have nothing in common))#((they don't see how they could be an item; but after talking to them; seeing them together))#((there's really no great mystery to it; they love each other!))#((they love each other; they make each other happy; they are kindred spirits))#((again; there's no great mystery to it at all; it's just true; deep; unabashed love!))#outofhatboxes #beatingheart-bride #V:Days of Future Past

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