Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui

Two White Girls Talk Bollywood discuss the Bollywood film "Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui." They talk about the main characters, the acting, and the reception of the film. They also mention the director and one of the writers, Simran Sami, who based the story on her trans daughter's experiences. They summarize the plot and discuss a scene where the male lead reacts negatively to finding out that the female lead is trans. They express disappointment in the portrayal of the relationship and hope that the characters don't end up together. Sometimes farts are funny. Farts are funny? We didn't talk about him farting while he was squatting earlier. Yeah, and then he just kind of looks up. Well, because I thought I imagined it. Because I was like, oh, I thought I heard a sound, but okay, I guess I didn't. It's one of those things where I feel like you would kind of be like, did I just hear what I think I just heard? No, surely not. Oh, maybe I did. No, because then he like puts the thing down and is like... Hi, everyone, and welcome to Two White Girls Talk Bollywood. I'm Kim. And I'm Katie. And we're here to talk about singing and dancing and a Bollywood girl, because frankly, I didn't love this Bollywood. No, no, we definitely do have to talk about him, unfortunately, but our hero for this week is absolutely Mon-V, right? I forgot her name. Oh, yes, the heroine is amazing. Mon-V. Yeah, slash Bonnie Kapoor. Yes, because our film for this week is Chandigarh Khare Ashiqui, and it was very emotional. Very emotional. And this was my second time watching this movie. And I remember feeling this way after I watched it the first time, too. But then over the course of time, I had sort of forgotten how, just how wide apart the good and the bad was, I guess. Yeah, there's a lot of different thoughts. And I feel very strongly about all of that. Yes, yes, yes. But I think it probably makes more sense to talk about that as we go and at the end, rather than before we do the plot recap. That's true. We should probably go through our usual logistics. Yeah, but I think it was worth watching. I agree. I think it was worth watching. Definitely a lot to unpack. And it was a really good starting point for my research this week. And I think there's a lot to be said about the reception of the film. Yeah, and the acting. Because, yes, as you mentioned, it stars Bonnie Kapoor and Ayushwin Khurana, our two main people. And while I hated, and continue to hate, frankly, Ayushwin Khurana's character, I can see how he acted that kind of person very well. But what really impressed me was Bonnie Kapoor's acting. That was just really nice to see. And again, I wish that role had been played by an actual trans woman, but it seems like she did bring this level of compassion and understanding to it. I don't know that you get a better performance from a cis woman. Yes, yes. I agree with that. I think she did as best as she possibly could as a cis woman playing a trans woman. I totally agree with that. The movie was directed by Abhishek Kapoor, who also directed the movie Sature, among other things. And there are several different writers credited, but I wanted to specifically draw attention to Simran Sami. It was originally her story, and the story is written based on her trans daughter's lived experiences. So she herself is a cis woman, but she has raised two trans daughters, and apparently it took her many years to sell this story and get a production company on board. And when Kapoor took it on and chose to move forward with it, she didn't tell him for two years that the story was actually based on her daughter's lives. Wow. Probably out of protecting them, honestly. Yeah, and they were still, from what I understand, in the middle of their transitioning. So I think that there was a lot of sensitivity around that for her, but when she did, it seems like there was a lot of acceptance from the people she was working with on that. Good. So, shall we just go? Let's get into it. Let's do it. So we open on a shirtless man lifting weights. We do, yes. And this is Manu. To give you some backstory on Manu, he runs a gym with his two best friends, who are twins, and they are struggling. Their gym is not making much money. They need more business. They have hired a Zumba instructor, and they're hoping that having Zumba offerings will increase their client base. Also, we learn that Manu is training for the GOAT, greatest of all time, national competition. And then we shift gears, and we see a woman putting on makeup. And this is Manzi, the Zumba instructor that the gym bros have hired. I want to make sure to call attention to Manzi's outfit that she's wearing when she first arrives at the gym. Because she's wearing an adorable, cropped sweatshirt that's sort of tied at the front, which, if I owned that, it would be all I ever wore. But she's also wearing stiletto-heeled boots. And I was very confused by the combination of athleisure and these stiletto-heeled boots. Because she looks great. She does. And also, you're going somewhere where you're just going to change into sneakers. It's weird to walk to work in your stilettos so that you can change into sneakers. It's the opposite of what the majority of women do. But so we see her enter the gym for the first time to see Manu doing squats. And she goes up to him. They introduce themselves. And we can see that Manu is definitely interested. There's some, frankly, staring. I was going to say flirtatious look. But no, he's just staring. And then we get a montage zone where he is checking her out. And then she's stalking him on Instagram. And then we also see her filling out a survey where she hesitates over what to choose as her identity. Interesting to note after our conversation from last week that on the Survey Day show, it does say how to identify male, female, or non-binary. Again, there are more than three gender identities. But that is a step up from man, woman, or other. Right. But so we see her hesitating over what to choose before she does finally select woman. And then after this montage scene, we see Mom be on the phone with her dad. And we see in this scene right off the bat that he is very supportive of her. He clearly loves her. He ends up telling her that there is a cousin getting married. And she's like, oh, that's so exciting. I'm so excited to go dance with everyone and see everyone. And then she pauses and she's like, oh, wait, I'm not invited, am I? And her dad says, your uncle says he doesn't want you to come. But they'll send you a card. So what we will eventually fully learn is that really Mom B's dad is the only one in her family who has continued to be in contact with her after she transitioned. And so, yeah, that comes up later. Yeah. He has framed pictures of a young man around his office. Like you said, Mom B's dad is the only person who's continued to be in contact with her. But his ways of keeping her in his life still leave some things to be desired. And I'm sure we'll talk about that more as we see more examples of that. Yes, we will. That was the first moment for me that was a little bit like, hmm, interesting that he's still like here are pictures of my son. Yeah. And I think that I did not notice that. Yeah. That does tie into a thought that I have later on. Yeah, as well. That we'll definitely talk about. It's confusing. Uh-huh. And so then there is this scene where Manu is like alone in the gym and he's lifting heavy weights as he does. And then he, quote-unquote, cuts a vein. No one else is around but Mom B is. And she takes him to the doctor. They go to the doctor. He gets his nose all bandaged up. She then is riding in the cab home with him to make sure he gets home safely. But so they do pull up to Manu's house. Mom B walks him in because he has to walk with his nose in the air. He almost gets hit by a car. Silly boy. And his ears still work. His peripheral vision still works. Whatever. But, you know, at this point you're kind of like, oh, you're kind of this silly, lovable meathead. And you're cute. And I like you. Yeah. But I didn't know you better. But so Mom B goes into his house with him where his father and his grandfather immediately start fawning all over him. Yeah. Because they really want Manu to get married. Yeah. He's only had, like, one serious relationship and that one ended a while ago. And so everyone's kind of like, come on, bro. Hurry it up. He's also the ripe old age of 32. Yep. Might as well be geriatric. But what I love about this, too, is that we see Grandpa, like, pick up his phone and slyly call Manu's two sisters to come home. Yes. So they also arrive when Mom B is in the house. And everyone's just like, oh, my God. And then Manu ends up asking if he can take Mom B to lunch to make up for her taking care of him. And so they do. They go out to lunch. I have to say I hated her outfit. I really didn't like the corset thing. Oh, yes. No, I didn't like that either. Over, like, the long denim shirt. But then she's also wearing a short. No, it felt weirdly, like, there was a period in the 2000s where people were really into corsets. And it wasn't a time I enjoyed. So I didn't like being reminded of it. Right. And it's, like, different because there's definitely people now who wear, like, corseted tank tops. I think it's different when you wear a corset, like, as its own piece. But, like, wearing it is weird. Yeah. Like, over a long-sleeved shirt. Or, like, over a dress if you're not a Ren fan. Yeah. That's very strange. So I was just like, oh, this is a fashion out for me. I did not like it. But anyway, they go to lunch. It seems to go well, even though Manu already ordered before she arrived. They also spend so much time talking about Manu. Like, that was one of my biggest notes about this. It's all about him. Almost the whole date talking about him. Which, you know, I think we're picking up on things with Manvi where she might feel more comfortable with that at this stage. Yeah, that's true. And it's not as if he's trying to get her to talk about herself and she's being like, no, no, we'll keep talking about you. He's just loving it. Yeah. He's like, I've got the attention of this pretty lady. And it's like, sure, bro. Yeah. I wanted to say one more thing about this date and what we learned about Manu and how his mom passed away when he was a child. And there's this really interesting element of his personality that I really wish that we had learned more about and been able to see him and Manvi connect about more because he had experiences with disordered eating as a child. Oh, right. He mentions that like one time. Yeah. And also his sisters, who are terrible people, as we'll see, but they only call him fatty. Right. And clearly they call him fatty because he went through a period of time as a child where food was a coping mechanism for him. Yeah. And now he is like a bodybuilder to have really strict control over what he eats and what his body looks like. And I'm like, this is fascinating. This would have been a really interesting way to have these characters understand and talk about their body dysmorphia together. And they just threw this in there and then didn't really do anything with it. Yeah. I mean, to the point where I was like, uh-huh, okay. And I didn't really think about it again. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for calling attention to that. I agree. It's a missed opportunity there. Definitely. So Monty convinces Monty to try out for Zumba to increase his flexibility. I was just reminded that at lunch he showed her the video of him losing. Yes, he did. And it's like if I was on a date with a man for the first time and he was just like, check this out. What? Look at this video of me. Of me losing. I don't know if that's better or worse than him being like, look at me winning this competition. You just shouldn't do it. Just don't do it. Unless I ask. Yes. Unless I ask. And maybe Monty did ask. We don't know. Maybe. That's true. Yeah. We didn't see that, though. And knowing Manu, I don't know. And then Manu invites Monty to a holly party and she kind of hens and haws and then finally decides like, okay, yes, I'm going to go. And then we get our first real dance number, which is Quiche de Noche, which is so fun to watch. Yeah. I really like it and it's my favorite. I think that's an excellent choice. Yeah. Thank you. I just love that we see them both getting ready for this party and they're both waxing. Yes, I wrote that down, too. Lami's waxing her legs and Monty's waxing his hips. But it's like the sexy getting ready song. That was exactly what I thought of. Even though in that we don't see the man wax, we just see him napping. Yeah. And the dancers are really fun with the hips and it's the boys versus girls thing. Always love that. I really just... Ayusha Khurana's a really good dancer as well, but Vani Kapoor. She is unstoppable. She's like water in the shape of a pool. It is. It is unreal how good of a dancer she is. We really should watch Baysecker, right? Yeah. Soon. Please. I just kind of watch her dance all the time, like all day, every day. There is a scene at the end of this dance number where Manu kind of finds his way to the outskirts of the party and he's kind of just standing there feeling the vibes. And Monty gets concerned because she's kind of like, oh my God, is he okay? And so she goes over to ask him if he's okay. And he just smiles at her. And then they make super prolonged eye contact. And my heart skipped several beats because I was holding my breath thinking, oh my God, he's going to kiss her. Like they're going to kiss. And then they didn't. No. He takes her hand and walks her somewhere private for that. And then he goes to kiss her. And I was like, okay, here it is. And she says, you know, wait, Manu, I have to tell you something. And then here's where things started to go off the rails for me and my love of Manu. He then is just like, no, it's fine. And he just kisses her. And then I was like, okay, that's fine. I guess they're kissing. She's into it. And then I was like, oh my God, are they having sex? I was like, it was less than five minutes from not kissing to post coital. I would be surprised if it was more than two minutes. It goes by so fast. And yet it's supposed to be this romantic moment? Right. And I don't know why they didn't just do a like, you know, they fall into each other's arms and then we fade into the montage thing. Because I was also like, bro. Bro. You can't see that. Let's maybe just have the quickest conversation about inaccurate depictions of sex. Yeah. Because it just happens very fast. There's very little buildup. The only buildup is a kiss. And then like some sexual. Not a long one. No, not a long one. Because at first when his hand was kind of creeping down there, I thought other stuff was going to happen. Sure. And I was like, okay, yeah, no, that makes sense. Yes. And I was like, oh, wait a second. He's actually just, he's going, he's just going for it. He's parking the car in the garage. Do you remember that in Arrested Development, they keep going to that visual of like the guy like sliding into home base? Yeah. That's exactly what it is. He's just like, whoom. Yeah. And then at the end, Monty is like, thank you. And it's very heartfelt and it's very sweet. But I'm like, I'm sorry. Was your experience different from what I saw? I think, yeah, it's like clearly the gratitude is coming from like an emotional place. I don't think without that, there would be much gratitude for this particular physical encounter. Not much was done for Monty here. No. And I think I'd also, again, if I were in those shoes. Can we take a minute? Can we maybe just, you know, get the gas going? Yeah, exactly. And not just like full throttle. Anyway. Anyway. Yeah. Then do you have anything else to say about this piece? No, I think I'm all set. So then we get another montage song. There's a lot of different montages set to various music pieces. Yeah. And I want to say this one, the song is called Attraction. Ooh, that makes sense. And I'm picking this for my favorite song for this week because I really like the song. And also because Nika Singh, who is the Bale playback singer we hear in this song is one of my faves. And he, there's actually been a couple of movies that we've heard him sing in before, but he, I'm a big fan of his. So wanted to throw one of his numbers on there. Awesome. Love that. And yeah, I mean, it's a sexy montage. It's very sexy. There's just like a lot of them making out and continuing their relationship and going on picnics and FaceTiming. I do really like the part where they're at the picnic and he offers her one of his hard-boiled eggs. Yeah. She does not accept. And then there's also a part where she's like, His neck just like the total opposite ends of the sexiness spectrum, licking someone's neck and offering them a hard-boiled egg. We get everything in between. It feels to me that one of them is getting more out of this relationship than the other. Yeah. Which continues to be the case. One morning they wake up together. Manu is in Manvi's bed. Manvi has made him breakfast. And as he kind of comes out to find her, she's like, Okay, quick, sit before your intermittent fasting. Which she's just so supportive. And in that moment, he's like, I'm in love with you. Will you marry me? And she hesitates. And then she tells him that she is trans. Yeah. He goes through these stages of like, what does that mean? And also I think important to note that after she hesitates, he starts making these jokes like, oh, it's fine. I'll accept the three kids from your previous marriage. It doesn't matter who you are, where you've been. I don't know. He's literally going on and on about how there's nothing that would change my mind about this. And then she tells him what she had been carrying around with her since they first got together. And honestly, all of her worst fears are realized. And she's keeping very calm and showing such bravery in having this discussion the way she's having it. And she even shows him a picture of her as a younger child and teenager. And he's like, oh, my God, you're a dude. You're a man. Oh, I want to throw up. It is extremely upsetting. And it just shows how ridiculous it is to fall in or out of love with someone based on something so arbitrary. Yeah, exactly. Like he's in love with her. He's super physically attracted to her. Everything is great. He is literally like, there is absolutely nothing that would change my mind. But then the fact that she was born with a man's body parts, which she does not have, would make him turn his back on her. And why? Because of heteronormative society. Because it makes him question his own sexuality. Exactly, yes. And that's the thing is it's not even really about her. And frankly, not a lot in this movie is about me. No, it's about him. And that's why it is a movie made for hetero people. Yes, exactly. This scene is really disturbing to me. It's really hard to watch. I have forgotten just how aggressive he is in this moment and how he goes home. And the next thing we see is him in the shower and retching in the shower. And it's like, you have been having sex with this person on a regular basis and not had any reaction to anything along these lines. In fact, you were falling in love with them. Just why does this piece of information matter to you? It doesn't change who this person is, who you love. Right. And it really breaks my heart because this is the whole reason she didn't say it in the first place. Because she has had this reaction before in previous relationships. And then to finally open up to someone that you really want to trust and that you want to build a future with and to have them suddenly become a really cruel, heartless person is awful. And again, he just keeps saying, you're a man. And she's just crying, standing there saying, I'm not a man. Because she's not a man. And I just, it's like why should she have to fight so hard to assert her identity when Manu has never had a day in his life where he had to stand up and say, I am a man. He hasn't had to convince anyone of that. Yeah. Because they end up together at the end of the movie. And this was in the moment I was like, they better not end up together. I know. I remember having that exact same thought the first time I watched it. And I really, what I wish that they had done is had him have, like have Manvi be able to tell him before they start a relationship, have him have a much less disgusted reaction and more of a just like, I need to think about this. I don't really know what this means. I'd like to learn more about it and have them not have had a love story yet. And then have had him fall in love with her and not have like, or, or just don't have him have this reaction and have it be about them together trying to like negotiate what it's like to be in a relationship together in their lives. Like, well, this is just, it's so horrible and it really makes it seem like it's okay for someone to have this reaction. Right. Cause it's okay because you know, you'll still get this amazing person. Right. Yeah. It's often the case that in these films that finally do show some queer representation, it is showing the trauma. Yeah. Which like, I can't speak for a queer person's experience, but like would they want to go to the movies to see every movie that they're represented in? And in every single movie, they're just watching reenactments of their own trauma that they've been through. Yeah, exactly. And I think there's, there is a certain element of that of like wanting to see yourself and your story represented on screen and also wanting to see joy and not see someone struggling. And that's, again, I think an example of, yeah. Demonstrating, like you said, this is a movie for and really ultimately about this head people. It's not for trans people. No. So yeah, a lot of feelings about that. But then Manu ends his rant by saying, I am going to ruin your life. He then meets up with his friends, the twins, and they're discussing this, which again, he's now going around telling other people that Mambi is trans. And it's not on her terms. He trusts to not then like, you know, criticize him. Like he doesn't tell his family because he knows that his family will criticize him. Yeah. And one of the twins reactions is immediately to say, we should go teach him a lesson. And then I was like, this is how quickly violence happens to trans people. And again, we see this that like Mambi has worked with them for a while now and that they've hung out and they like her, but then suddenly finding this out about her wipes all of that away. And it's also like, we see Manu, you know, he has a violent reaction to the way that the twins react to this, but it's not, it's not out of any sort of like desire to protect Mambi. It's about wanting to protect himself and protect his reputation. Right. But then we see Mambi out at like the mall with her friends and Manu shows up and asks to talk to Mambi and he just keeps repeating that she lied to him, which she didn't. She says she just didn't tell him about her past, which is true and frankly what a lot of people do in new relationships. Absolutely. And it's just something that I think a lot of trans people encounter because they're expected to disclose that they are trans for the comfort of others. Yeah. But Manu starts yelling at Mambi saying all the things he's said before. I don't know why I'd hoped he might apologize, but he doesn't. And he ends by telling her to leave Chandigarh. She then says, you need to leave me alone because I have been through pain. Like this body has been through pain and you can't scare me. And then she walks away. Now I do like the way that you just phrased that line, the way that it's sort of presented in the subtitles and the way I saw some people react to it is if there is mention of, you know, think of the part of my body that I've had cut off of me. Yeah, I didn't like that. And well, I just wanted to bring it up because it's like, that's, it feels to me like such a, I don't feel like a trans person, when I actually say that. Like definitely like the spirit of this is like, yes, I have been through physical and emotional trauma. Like bring it on. You can be through that trauma without going through the surgery. That's absolutely true. Yeah. Yeah. It just was, it was such a weird choice to call attention specifically to. It did not feel true to Monbi's character. So yes, I tweaked the wording of that. I'm glad you did. Yeah. But then we get intermission and after intermission, Manu tells his friends, they have to fire Monbi, but they're like, man, our profits have been great since she joined the gyms. So let's just keep her on for the remainder of her three month contract. And then in the next scene, we see Manu's whole family pestering him to marry Monbi. And then they say they want to meet Monbi's parents. So Manu catches up with Monbi again. She has told him to leave her alone at this point. He keeps not listening to that. Yep. Keeps hassling her. But Manu catches up with Monbi not to apologize in any way or acknowledge his cruelty, but to ask her to help him out. And he's like, I just need you to tell my family that there's nothing between us. You can tell them that you rejected me. And then she pushes back saying, the truth is you rejected me. And you need to tell your family that. Why don't you tell them the truth that I am a trans woman. And he's like, well, I can't, you know, cause yeah, he's afraid of what they'll say about him. She says, it's your family. It's your problem. Leave me alone. And walks away. In the next scene, we see a montage of them being sad. And I'm like, Manu, you have no right to be sad. You have fully relented upon yourself. Yeah. And I've done nothing to try to fix it. But we do see him educating himself on the experience of trans people. So he's watching all these talks and reading all of these essays. And I do, I think, you know, I'll give Manu just the smallest little piece of props here that he does educate himself. And we also, he doesn't do what we see many other characters do and ask her very personal and frankly, you know, inappropriate questions about her experience as a trans woman. So it's just like a little sliver of, of good and appreciation for that, that doesn't in any way discount any of the bad. Yeah. And I had just hoped that all of that education might then lead to some reflection because he's like, okay, I can now understand these experiences more. I can see how what I said was hurtful. But as we'll find out, that's not part of it. Yeah. He never, it never makes it that far around. No. But so then we see that Mambi's dad comes to visit her at her house and it's really, really sweet up until he calls her his son. Yeah. And she's like, I'm your daughter. And he says, oh no, you're both my son and my daughter. This is just evidence that yeah, well-meaning supportive people can still cause harm. Absolutely. As you mentioned in the beginning too. Yeah. You don't have a son. You have a daughter. Right. It's not hard. But so Mambi's dad suggests that she's not going to the gym for a few days to kind of just let things quiet down. And she's fed up with leaving. She's like, I've had to leave my home. I've had to leave school. I've had to leave like relationships. I am done running. So then we see Manu tracks down a trans woman who we had met earlier on in the film. And he asks them to coffee. I'm going to use the them pronoun because I don't. I think that's fair. Yeah. We don't know exactly how this person would identify. But so then they're at coffee. Manu is filling them in on his situation with Mambi. And they say, I was a BA in English. And they quote Shakespeare. And they say, what's in a name, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Why does it matter that she has this title of trans woman? Right. And then they also recommend that Manu go meet with a doctor. Meanwhile, Manu's sisters are like stalking both him and Mambi. They see that both of them separately are going to doctors. And the sister who is tailing Manu overhears his conversation with the doctor about where he explicitly says like, you know, Mambi is trans, all this stuff. So then his sister finds out. She immediately calls the other sister and is like, we have a huge problem. And this is when I was like, oh, I hate you. Yeah. But so, yes, Manu then gets home from visiting that doctor and his whole family confronts him and says that he's bringing down the family reputation and that Mambi must have seduced him with black magic. No, she seduced him by just being a hot woman. Also, he ran after her. That's also very true. Like she was into him, but she wasn't really pursuing him in any way. And then Manu's getting into this argument with his family and then his friends show up and are like, dude, there's a situation at the gym. So he leaves. But as they're driving to the gym, Manu's friends fill him in and explain that his sister showed up to Zumba and outed Mambi in front of the entire Zumba class. Yes. And they were yelling at her. And no one stands up for Mambi. No. As these women are just screaming at her. Yes. And so Mambi runs away from the gym after this altercation. And then she gets a call that her father is in the hospital because he had a heart attack. So she goes there and her whole family is there. And her uncle deadnames her. Literally everyone is just being generally terrible. And then we see she's at the hospital and her friend is packing up her apartment for her because she's like, I can't. I've lost everything now. I just have to leave. And Manu shows up and begs her friend to let him see Mambi. So then he tagged along with a friend of the hospital. Mambi's like, I don't want to talk to him. I don't really care that he's here. Meanwhile, Manu takes it upon himself to introduce himself to Mambi's family, which then leads to Mambi's mom pulling her aside to berate her for bringing these quote-unquote freaks to the hospital because her mom's toxic as well. And this is such a heartbreaking conversation because Mambi says that she's always been her mom's daughter and that she always looked up to her mom as being like the ultimate woman and the woman that she would want to be. And she then is like, why won't you accept me? And she's just putting it all out there. And her mom just looks at her and says, you should stop making a scene and walks away. Her dad ends up being fine. The rest of the family leaves, but Mambi stays at the hospital overnight. And Manu says that he'll stay with her. And then they get another conversation between the two of them. And I thought, surely now is going to be when he apologizes. And he apologizes for his sister's behavior. Oh, my God. And I'm like, yes, what they did was terrible and also what you did was terrible. What he did was worse. She probably doesn't even care what his sisters think. Right. And it's not enough that they outed her, but I think she would have been able to handle that if it was just that isolated incident. Yeah. But, like, yeah. What he did was, like, someone who she trusted and loved and cared about absolutely just, like, betrayed her multiple times in a row. And she tells him once again to leave her alone and walked away. And he catches up with her again. And he explains that his head has been spinning since she told him. And it's not his fault. Because he went to a government school and had never heard the term trans before. And I was like, that might be true. But, bro, like, take accountability for your actions. Causing harm is your fault. Yeah. You didn't need to have such a hateful reaction. You could have been confused. You could have asked questions. All of that is fine. That's not what you did. What I would have loved in this moment was to see some growth on his side of things where he fessed up. He apologized for his actions. And then, Mondi, it would be her power to decide, okay, do I want to still have, like, a potential friendship or acquaintanceship with this person who caused me harm? Yeah. Like, maybe we take it slow. Because that's not something you're just like, sorry. Right. Yeah. And you forget about. Yeah. You don't just bounce back from that. Yeah. But, no, he doesn't do that. But, so, he tells Mondi that he really likes her and she's a rock star and he misses her. And she doesn't believe that he's willing to be out in the world with her. And he asks her to give him a chance. Before she gives him her answer, Mondi's dad and sisters drive up to the hospital to fetch him back home. He basically tells them all off. Yeah. Mondi goes back into the hospital. And then we see Manu and his friends going to the goat competition. And it seems like Manu is struggling in this competition. As that's happening, we see Mondi and her mother go in to visit her father. Her dad says that he's feeling better now that he's seeing them together and that they're kind of starting to mend that bridge. And it's at this moment that Mondi gets a text from Manu's friend asking her to come to the competition. And she's like, hey, sorry, I think I have to go. Which, don't go. Yeah. He hasn't done anything for you. Like. Oh, God, no. But what's really crucial about this is that her mom is like, yes, you should go. I'll stay here. And in saying that, she calls her Mondi. And I'm like, again, I shouldn't have goosebumps for a woman referring to her child as her name. But that's the statement. I know. Like, it shouldn't be remarkable. But it is. And it's also like, if this had been the movie, you know, if it had been more about that. A Mondi-centered film instead of a Manu-centered film. Exactly. Yep. They hug, which is really sweet. But then Mondi heads to the competition. And she arrives just in time for the last challenge. Oh. Where he's lifting a really heavy weight. Yep. And he wins. Yay. And as soon as he does, he, Mondi runs over to Mondi and pulls her onto the stage with him. And she gives him a nod to say, like, yes, I will give you your chance. And then they kiss. And that's the end. Yep. Then we get the title track number over the end credits. It's fun. Everyone is dancing. And also, I was like, well, wait a second. Not everything is fine and dandy. Don't try to make me think it is. Yeah, no. This is not an example of a healthy relationship that I in any way want to root for. I mean, we touched upon, I think, a lot of, like, the big points of the film as we were going through. But I do think it gets across an important issue because I definitely don't often find myself thinking about the experience of trans people moving through the world. Sure. Because as a cis hetero woman, there's that privilege that comes along with that. Yeah, yeah. And so I think it's flawed. Yep. But I am glad that it is. I'm carrying that with me to what I am observing in the real world. Yeah. Also, I don't love that the movie ends with Mondi putting herself on the line once again to support Mondi. That's literally, like, I made a note in here, all she does through the whole movie is sacrifice herself for the happiness of her male partner. Yeah. Because, like, we literally don't see Mondi support Mondi at all. Yeah. He shows up at the hospital, but, like, that's it? Yeah. And this movie didn't need to be a love story. No. And if they had wanted it to be a love story, they shouldn't have had him verbally assault her. Again and again and again. Yeah. I don't know. It doesn't really seem like that should be that difficult of a concept, regardless of whether or not you're making a movie about cishet people or trans people or queer people. Like, that doesn't equate to love. No, no. I understand them wanting to end in a hopeful place, but I think they could have done that without them ending up, like, her being like, yeah, I forgive you and I love you and we're together. I feel like they could have had Manu groveling more, and I think they could have ended it in a, okay, we're going to take it slow and step by step and see if it's even possible to rebuild the trust that you demolished. Yeah. Because it just feels like Mondi is punished so harshly, again and again and again, for being who she is. Yep. And then Manu, on the other hand, is deliberately choosing to be cruel and hurtful, and he's not punished at all. Like, he wins the competition, he gets the girl. Suddenly his family is like, woo, we support you again. Yeah. It really, yeah. It's the story about his triumphs and the rewards he gets for deigning to accept a woman who happens to be a trans woman. And he gets the world, even though it was this whole long, horrible experience that he put her through in order to get that, quote-unquote, win. Yeah. Which is just the experience of cis-hetero men the world over. It really is. And I found myself thinking a big part of the filmmakers' reasoning behind a lot of the choices they made was education. They wanted to educate people, and as we'll see kind of going through my research, there is definitely a need for that. Yeah. And I was thinking about what we talked about in both of our last two episodes about if a movie, even if it doesn't get everything right, if it's going some of the way, then it's doing some good. I find myself questioning and kind of ping-ponging back and forth whether I feel like this movie does much good because it perpetuates so many of these really negative things and these ways that this character is being taken advantage of. Yeah. I think in the obvious words that are happening, that, quote-unquote, education is happening, but in all of the subtle undertones, it's the wrong kind of education that cis-hetero people are getting. Yeah. 100%. I totally agree with that, and I think that they just, in a lot of ways, missed the mark with how they had this love story play out, and I think that they could have made so many different choices where it would actually have, you know, still maybe been a little bit tone-deaf, but would have hit more of the right notes and not had the right notes that they hit be so totally undermined by the really negative things that they included. Yeah. Yeah. So I think ultimately this isn't necessarily a movie I would recommend or say is empowering in any kind of way, other than, like you said at the start, Vani Kapoor's performance is really excellent, and one thing that's pretty much agreed upon throughout the criticism, even as people criticize the choice of casting a cis-het woman in this role, is that she put a lot of thought and attention into the way that she performed it, and also that this is a deviation from the way trans people may have seen themselves portrayed in films in the past, which was often very negative. You know, they were either the butt of the joke or the villain or both. Yeah. Before I get into research, I did also want to mention, I meant to say this at the beginning of the movie, but I forgot, we see at the start of the film that this movie was dedicated to the actor Sushant Singh Rajput, and I wanted to mention that because we've talked about him on the podcast before. It was his death by suicide that was really one of the primary sparks of the boycott Bollywood movement. So I just wanted to make sure that that didn't go unmentioned. Yeah. So diving into my research for this week, the first thing I wanted to talk about just briefly, and we've touched on this a little bit, but I wanted to just share a little more about the choice of casting Vani Kapoor, of casting a cis-het woman in a trans role, because the filmmakers were asked about this and did address it in interviews. And Abhishek Kapoor, who directed the film, says, I wanted to call attention to that because I feel like that's often the excuse that's used, and not just in this particular kind of a situation, but when we see whitewashing in movies, and just really any time that you see an actor who's really not right for a part be cast in it, the justification is often, will they have the experience? And I think a very valid question is then, well, how are we going to give trans actresses experience if we don't cast them in movies? It's like, yeah, there are promising young actors. You can't say there aren't. And I also think, too, as we have said, this movie is not about Manvi. Vani Kapoor gives a great performance in this movie. I don't think that a trans actress who maybe had a little less experience would have done any worse, because it would not have taken much work for her to portray a story that may have resonated with who she was, as opposed to Vani, who would have to work hard to play a character who she was not. Yeah, agreed. So what we wanted to talk about for this week was day-to-day experiences of people who belong to the LGBTQIA plus community in India, and what does it look like for a person who may identify as gay or queer or trans, understanding, of course, that not everybody's experiences are the same, and there's certainly a broad range of experiences that people might have, but what barriers exist to living a quote-unquote normal life in this world? And I use that term because that's the terminology that's given to us in the movie. There's what is normal, and there's what is not. And so what is it that is... And making these people who belong to these communities prevent them from being able to live a normal life, be able to marry a person that they love, and have children if they choose to, and go to work and just travel to and from their job, from their home? What are the things that prevent them from being able to do that? And so I started with a movie and kind of moved outwards from there. In doing that, I came across a review from a trans man who shared his experiences watching the movie and how audiences were laughing through the scene where Manu is verbally abusing Manvi, that they were laughing too through the transphobic language used by Manu's sisters. They actually were cheering the sisters on during that scene where they were attacking Manvi. And this person reviewing this movie said that this made him uncomfortable to even use the bathroom during the screening of this movie. He also called attention to the fact that Manvi, throughout the movie, refers to herself as a trans girl and not a trans woman. Also the fact that aside from Vani Kapoor not being a trans woman herself, casting her reinforces cis-het body standards. And also that the way that the choice that Manu makes to try to have a relationship with Manvi is portrayed like he's doing her this big favor and that he deserves... It's a brave choice. It's brave to love a trans woman. And meanwhile, this trans man is like, well, I'm in a relationship with a trans woman. I don't think I'm brave. I just love somebody. So the reviewer who I pulled this from, their name is Satvik Sharma. They use he-they pronouns. And Satvik and his friend, Jamal Siddiqui, are both trans men who experience bullying and discrimination. And so they began what is called the Trans Men Collective in 2017. And this is an organization giving trans men in Delhi a safe space to gather, both online and in person, to make friends, to talk about their experiences, and to take advantage of support resources. Their website features articles about coming out, about dealing with parental disapproval, defining terminology, things like chest binding, and also things about both body dysmorphia and body euphoria. In an article about the collective, Satvik recalls lacking support from faculty at school, being picked on by students, being made to play on a girls' sports team growing up, and being forced to wear a skirt as a part of their uniform. Back then, he says, I didn't know what the term trans men meant, as we had no mainstream media representation at all. And that's a common theme throughout my research, is a lot of people, as much as cishet folks, who are like, well, I don't know what these terms mean. Oftentimes, trans people, non-binary people, genderqueer people, they might not know even what to say, how to say who they are, what they are, how they identify. Which they did mention in the film, but you just wonder how. And I think it is because there aren't as many movies or TV shows or things in the media that would help people understand that, these examples of what it might look like to move through the world in certain ways. And so that's where, again, representation, when it's done well, or even when it's done mostly well, can be very beneficial for those kinds of reasons. Agreed. So another part of the movie that this reviewer, Satvik, who started the trans men collective in Delhi, another part that he wanted to talk about was the very brief and quickly glossed over moment where the trans woman who we see in the movie, who Manu kind of briefly befriends and who talks to him a little bit more about that experience, she just casually mentions that earning a BA in English, and yet the way that we see this character portrayed, they're begging on the street. And so Satvik and his friend Jamal both had experiences, and it sounds like this is very common, of being passed up for jobs, that they were qualified or overqualified for because of their trans identity. So Satvik's criticism of the film, it brought up several common themes that then, as I continue to do my research a little more generally into what life is like for people in India, a lot of things that kind of kept coming up. And so starting with that idea of people being passed up for jobs, I wanted to make sure to mention a trans woman, Dr. Manami Bandya Thaddei, who is India's first transgender PhD. And I also am not totally sure if that is correct, but that is how I saw her listed in one article, and then I couldn't find anything to back that up, but I'm going to go with it. She's a trans woman and she has a PhD. She's very impressive. But she spoke to her own experiences being rejected in professional and academic settings, and notes that, quote, people are okay with transgenders being at traffic signals, but can't accept qualified ones like me. So, you know, thinking this is the setting where I expect to see this in a more, I'm going to say elite setting, thinking that, you know, that being the thinking of a closed-minded individual, they don't expect to see people in that world who are transgender. And that just drives home the reason why the queer community was asking for, I forget what the term is, but that I had brought up last week, where reserved spaces or something like that, where there is like a certain number of jobs and a certain number of spots in educational institutions that are reserved for people identifying as trans. Yeah, like you had compared it to affirmative action, like asking for that to happen. And that hasn't. Right, and clearly it is very much real, and it's a real problem affecting people. But meanwhile, they have made begging illegal. Yeah. So, anyway, but just like with any community, many varied opinions exist within the transgender community, and the same holds true for the views on this film. And, you know, it wasn't disliked by every trans person who watched it. And Shane Stoney, who is a fashion designer and who was the 2020 winner of the Miss Trans Queen beauty pageant in India, said that Manvi's story was extremely relatable to her. After being rejected by her family, Stoney struck out on her own, became a success, and was able to fund her own gender-affirming surgery. Stoney blames a lack of gender education for not just ignorance and hatred from the cisgender community, but, again, the struggles of trans and non-binary people as they try to grapple with their identities as they're growing up. And, again, it kind of reminded me of what you had researched for our last episode and the way that the government puts all people who don't identify with the sex of their birth into the category of transgender. So it's like if that's the only term that people have, there probably are people who don't really understand who they are because they're like, well, I don't really fit into that box either, and they're not given these other terms to really understand that there are many other options besides these just three possibilities that the government gives them. And, again, this brings us back to the idea of Chandigarh and similar films and other forms of media being intended as educational. Again, I can't believe that. I would only want a person who's already done some of that themselves, done some of the work to educate themselves to watch that. Right. Yes, I agree. Because clearly, as we saw in Satsak's experience, when people who don't have any background whatsoever watch it, they're rooting for the wrong side. Dhananjay Chauhan, who is a transgender woman and activist living in Chandigarh, says that the movie does help to raise awareness and break stereotypes. Again, depicting Mandi as this very strong, capable character as opposed to what has been shown in the past in this industry of people being like villains and or the butt of jokes if they're transgender. Chauhan says, earlier people were against us, now they're starting to be more neutral. Not because of this movie, but there's a whole kind of movement that's happening. And moving from being hated to neutral, that's not acceptance. It's not acceptance, it is moving the needle in the right direction. Yeah, that's good. And it's better to be neutral than to be actively violent again. I'm not saying that that's the stopping point, but Chauhan was having this observation as something relatively positive compared to a point that this community has been at in the past, and many still continue to experience this. But Chauhan herself has participated in sensitization workshops designed for police officers to help police forces understand how to respond to this community with empathy and to reverse the reality that many transgender folks hesitate to report crimes fearing discrimination or even harassment from those hired to protect them. Good. And broadening our horizons a little bit beyond just the transgender community, I wanted to share a story of two police women in Gujarat who successfully appealed to the high court of that state for police protection from their families when they decided to live together. Now, obviously there's good and bad things about this story. They had to appeal to courts for protection from their family, but they were successful in doing that. The article that I read about this changed the names of these two women. They used the names Preeti and Avni. Preeti and Avni fell in love, and they signed a contract called a matri-karar. Now, this is a really interesting thing that I learned about. A matri-karar is a relationship contract in Gujarat, and it seems like other states have a version of this as well. And this originally existed so that married men could take mistresses without violating the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, which, among other things, prevented polygamy. But in recent years, such contracts have been increasingly utilized by same-sex couples and interfaith couples so that they can legally engage in live-in relationships. I think that these contracts have now been made illegal, and I think it would be fascinating to know whether they have been made illegal because these are the couples who are now trying to utilize them. But they at least existed up until 2020 because that is when these two women, Preeti and Avni, signed this contract so that they could live together and legally declare themselves a couple without being able to marry one another. Just another example of something that cis hetero men created for their own means, then being utilized in creative ways by marginalized populations. Anyway, Preeti and Avni's families were opposed to them entering into this relationship, and they threatened them. So the couple appealed first to the police officials who didn't immediately respond. So they then took their case to the High Court in Gujarat and were granted police protection. The women's families did let them be, but who knows whether they did that because they were granted protection, whether they would have taken any action against them if that hadn't been the case. Reading through these various stories, it becomes clear that examples of acceptance tend to be in urban phenomenon and in rural areas. Threats of violence such as those faced by Preeti and Avni are a very real possibility. But lack of acceptance is still very much a thing in urban areas. Across India, LGBTQ folks struggle to come out to their families often fearing rejection or attempted psychiatric intervention. Now, Katie, you, in a previous episode, had brought up conversion therapy, and yes, that is a very real danger to queer individuals in India, as it is in other parts of the world. As a result of these potential dangers that can occur when someone does come out to their family, there are very differing opinions on the concept of coming out to one's family or to whoever it is who is in one's community. Some queer folks say that people should just do it, regardless of what the circumstances may be after having done it. Ultimately, in the long run, they're better off because they're no longer having to hide who they are, which obviously there is a lot of very negative mental health impacts that can happen when people have to hide who they are. Obviously, though, there is, again, a lot of danger to this. A lesbian psychotherapist who went by the name of Pooja in the article that I was reading about her noted how most, if not all, of the accepted terminology in the LGBTQ plus community in India is Western in origin. Because there is, in general, more acceptance of these identities in the Western world, young people in India who are exposed to these terms via the Internet may be led into a false sense of security when choosing whether or not to come out to their families. There is this powerful sense in the Western world that being quote-unquote out and proud is the best way to be queer. Some Indian youth may opt for that without fully understanding the risks that they may face when they come out. That makes me really grateful that there are more organizations popping up offering resources to people so that hopefully they are able to have those conversations with older people who have also dealt with that same challenge in a culturally relevant way. Yes, exactly. Ultimately, many advise waiting until a family has maybe undergone some education and or the individual has some financial security. Of course, family rejection can have a lot more than just financial side effects and queer folks who come out to their families are often in the position of having to rebuild their communities of support and many have taken to online platforms such as DAISY, which is a play on the word Daisy. Oh my God, I love that. I know, isn't that great? And that's just one example of online platforms that exist to help people build community as well as find support wherever they're at in their journey. Even so, the threat of losing familial support is enough for many to conform to prescribed cishet societal norms, maybe marrying someone who is not of their own sexual orientation or who identifies differently than what their sexual preferences are. Family members also fear alienation from their own communities and workplace discrimination can exist against people who just belong to the family of a queer person. Which does not really encourage familial acceptance. Exactly. No, not at all. And of course, the assumption is often that wealthy and better educated people may be more accepting but often these people are concerned about societal status which again could be threatened by having a queer relative so there's really not much acceptance happening in any circle. I wanted to return to our hero from last week, Shailaja Patanjali, the writer, director, and star of Nanu Ladies. She has a TED Talk which is great and I encourage everyone to watch where she talks about the pressures she felt growing up as a queer person she faked attraction to male peers she was vilified when she first expressed attraction to another woman and notes that she actually learned the term lesbian for the first time from the abuse she received from her classmates. When she finally came out to her quote unquote well-educated father, and that's the way that she described him in the TED Talk, he beat her so badly that he broke her jaw. She then told him that she had been successfully reverted to a non-gay status that she had been cured of her queerness and he said great, I'm glad that that happened and he agreed to fund her further education. She moves to a city where she was able to be herself a little bit more, but she still shared an experience of a former partner of hers whose father found out that the two of them were living together the father of the partner called the police who came and took Shailaja into custody, accused her of kidnapping her partner and quote unquote pimping her again to use Shailaja's terms and selling her for sex acts. So yeah it's like dystopian all of this except it's reality. Just gives me even more respect towards her and admiration for having this happen to her and then she has the bravery to then say yeah and I'm going to put this in a film and share it with the world. That is so brave. But again it's like queer people shouldn't have to be brave and I know that's not reality. This is the reality we're living in. It's just yeah. It shouldn't have to be considered brave to just live your life as who you are and be able to tell your story. Right. I wanted to wrap up with some positive things. Great. You know I mentioned Dhananjay Chahan earlier. She has participated in educational programming in Chandigarh to help kids meet, accept and become desensitized to members of the transgender community. So basically reducing this idea of these people being an other, normalizing their experiences and their presence in these students lives. Some of who themselves may be trans or otherwise identify as queer. So you know just showing that this is normal. These people exist in the world and they're no different from you. That just reminds me of drag queens reading to children like doing Story Hour which is now illegal in Tennessee. Yeah it's a very similar kind of a thing of just like see there are different ways that people move through the world and there's nothing wrong with that. Right. So there are beginning to be these conversations and beginning to be the understanding that that needs to exist in order for a lot of these more pervasive issues to be kind of addressed as a root cause. And I also wanted to again draw attention to some of the supports and programs that I learned about. Some of them that I've already mentioned like the Trans Men Collective in Delhi, Gazee, which again what a great name. Absolutely brilliant. And then also one that I haven't mentioned yet started by Rafael Olom Raman who founded the Queer Muslim Project in 2017. And it was really good to see this example of intersectionality because as Raman notes quote it's unfortunate that we are still talking about these issues in silos. People are complex and can identify in multiple different ways. And also those of us who don't belong to various identity groups have to acknowledge the ways those who we do hold common identities with may have intersecting identities. I think that's what that word was supposed to say. My phone changed it to infecting which isn't what I meant. Yeah. But so you know for example cishet Muslim people need to understand the plight of queer Muslim people so that steps forward for the Muslim community can also be steps forward for the queer Muslim community and everybody can be taking steps forward together and not just certain factions of those identities at one time. Raman himself is originally from rural India where he felt forced into a specific box and it wasn't until he moved to Delhi that he felt he could begin exploring his queerness in relative safety. So he began the queer Muslim project as a place to gather stories and put forward role models for his intersecting communities. The project dispels the myth that you can't be both a queer person and a good Muslim by providing support and resources to those grappling with their queerness and their religious identity. Great. And then lastly I wanted to put in a plug for Femina India who has been putting out a lot of really enjoyable LGBTQIA plus content this Pride Month. So I've been having a good time following them on the gram. So that was my research for this week and to be honest I glossed over a couple of particularly negative stories as I realized how rough this already was sounding going through it but I think it's important for us to be aware of the reality and you know as we watch movies like those we have seen this week understanding why they may exist in the ways that they do exist and also again as we've done acknowledging whether they really do any kind of good or any kind of harm. Yeah. No thank you for sharing that because yeah I think my perspective or my perception of what daily life was like was maybe not that way. I really it wasn't what I intended for the segment to be about and it was just like every single thing I was reading were all testimonials of these really horrible experiences and it's like well this is clearly what the reality is. And it's important to acknowledge that. Yeah. Okay. So on that note we're skipping Bollywood news this week because we had a lot to cover. And we also have a lot of Bollywood news because we haven't recorded in like four weeks but we'll just push it another week and we'll get to it next time. Yeah. Yeah. But are pluggable. Yes. First of all thank you to our listeners and everyone who engages with us on Instagram. We really do appreciate it. We've had some delightful exchanges with listeners in the comments or in our DMs. And yeah it's just so fun. And yeah. So our Instagram is Two White Girls Talk Bollywood and you can also subscribe on whatever podcast platform you're listening to. You can also leave a review, leave a rating or not. I always feel like I need to give you that option but you're you know I can assume you're a grown adult and you make your own decision. Yeah. Yeah. Great. And we also have playlists where we add our favorite songs from each of the movies that we watch on YouTube and Spotify called Bollywood Bangers. We link those in our episode descriptions every week as well as in our Instagram posts on Tuesdays. Oh OK. So stretch. Yeah. We have one more movie we're going to be watching for Pride Month and that movie is called Bad Hai Do. Yes. I am very ready for another Rajkumar Rao. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Me too. He's adorably great. Oh my God. Sorry I got distracted. I'm watching the trailer. He was shirtless. I'm sorry. Yeah. He's but I was like oh. You know similar to Ayushman Khurana in today's movie he's suddenly jacked in this film. Rajkumar Rao. Is it surprising? I'm sure it wasn't sudden for him but it was sudden for the rest of us. And alongside him is Bhoomi Pednakar who we haven't seen in the film before but she's she's great. This is another movie about gay folks starring heterosexual folks but hopefully more in the line of our first movie of FMZS in that regard and maybe a little bit less harmful is my hope. Yeah. Yeah. It seems to have that vibe. Yeah. But who knows. We will find out and we will talk about it one way or the other. IMDb says Shardul Thakar, Slag Lot and Suman Singh enter into a marriage of convenience but chaos ensues when her unhinged girlfriend comes to stay with them. I have seen this movie before. I do not remember the girlfriend being unhinged but maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe we'll find out. But then it's like is this another instance where we're just calling women like crazy. You know. Yeah. Let's find out. More on that next week. The Netflix synopsis is a gay cop and a lesbian teacher enter a sham marriage to pacify their families but find that relationships both real and fake aren't all that easy. I'm excited for this. Yeah I am too. Great. So this movie is spelled B-A-D-H-A-A-I space D-O and you can find it on Netflix. Yeah. Anything else sad? I don't think so. Gosh. A lot. A lot going on in this one. Yeah it was a lot but I feel like that was a good conversation. I feel like I've learned something. Me too. Very much. And that's good. Yeah. But yeah. So until next time remember Bollywood doesn't need us. Nope. And jury's still kind of out on whether they needed Manu. No the jury's. I don't think anybody. Bollywood didn't need Manu. Nobody needs Manu. Nobody should want Manu. Manu should just go away. Yep. But Manvi was great. Yes. And Bollywood needed Manvi. We needed Manvi and we continue to need Bollywood even with its loss. Yes. Very well said. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.