I’ve narrowed it down to my top three, but I just can’t pick between them! They are all wonderful and I love them all in their unapologetic “the audience will never get this so we are just gonna go for it” over the top romance.
First choice, which reigned triumphant in my heart as “gayest song in Hindi film” for years. “Jashn-E-Ishq” from Gunday. The title means “season of love”, and it is about the deep physical bond between childhood best friends and partners and BFFs Arjun and Ranveer. Which they express through wrestling, loudly singing “Season of love” at each other, and some very explicit train decoupling right at the end.
Next choice! Which I had heard about for years but somehow never seen. And then I saw it and started questioning Gunday‘s place on my mental list. “Yeh Dosti Tere Dum Se”, or “This friendship is my heartbeat”. Akshay, of course, always has chemistry with everybody. But you add on Bobby’s shirts, and all the handholding and gazing and stuff and it reaches a new level of romance.
And then right after I was ready to make my peace with “Yeh Dosti” as tying with “Jashn-E-Ishq”, Reflects on Life in the comments directed me to “Tere Yaar Hoon Main”. And yep, it can easily challenge the other two! It’s less about the physical love than “Jashn-E-Ishq”, and less about the euphoria of love than “Yeh Dosti Tere”, but the romance! The pure swoony tragic romance of it!!!!!
What do you say? Which of these is the Gayest of them all?
dontcallitbollywood 
The title of this post feels homophobic, particularly because the word “gayest” is often used in a derogatory fashion.
Perhaps a better choice would be “homo-erotic”. Thoughts?
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Eh, “homo-erotic” feels more judgey to me, like they are sexy just because they are about two men. the Gunday song is definitely sexy, but the Dosti and Sonu Ki Titu songs are more about romance and love. “Queer” is the word that would be the best fit, but then I would feel bad because I only have male-male relationships and no other options.
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 1:00 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Gonna be pedantic. I think that “eros” encompasses all that lovey-dovey stuff as well as straight-up (hah) sexy feels. So homo-erotic works for romance as well as “boom chicka boom pow” type songs. I don’t think the title is homophobic, but then I’m a straight white lady, so what do I know?
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Based on that standard, I can tell you that it passed muster with the many gay young folks I know. Which also isn’t 100%, because that’s not a total sample size.
Anyway, which song for you? Or do I have to wait until after work for you to watch them all?
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 1:55 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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That’s the one! It will be my preview before diving into Ranam.
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No Akshay/Saif on this list?! Blasphemy!
Anyways that Dosti song is most definitely a straight up regular romantic love song with the hand holding, the longing looks, and the super dramatic “you are my life,breath, heart, etc.” lyrics
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The only one I could think of was fanvids!!!! I can’t think of an actual song within a movie that captures the power of their romance.
So your vote would be for the Dosti song? Because it is closest to being just a straight (ha!) love song?
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 1:25 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The pun wasn’t intentional! Okay granted some of the songs I’ve seen aren’t as gay as the dosti one but the choreography in some of their songs make me think that they’re romancing each other!
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I watched all three films and not for once thought, “Oh yeah. Gay.”
The Italian men in my family hug and kiss all the time and the Moroccan men…well everybody hears the stories. They’re not true. North African culture allows for tactile public bonding among males, but displays of affection between men and women are kept behind closed doors. So in a way, I’m inured. The homosexual content of a film has to be pretty graphic (Happily Ever After, ie,) for me to say, “Oh yeah. Gay.”
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Really? Not even the romantic ones, the hand holding and eye gazing in Dosti, and the dramatic wedding tragedy of Tere Yaar Hoon Main?
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 1:27 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh heck! Now that you pointed it out…I… yes, sorta, maybe. Can’t un-ring a bell.
A lot of phallic imagery in Gunday, but the guys are so joyously macho. I grew up with five brothers who were always slapping and wrestling. They cleaned up for the girls they married, but I think they miss their happy days in the mud.
Couldn’t play the second vid, but the third does hint at some kind of soupy stickiness. More mooney and romantic than sexual but still gay.
I guess. Maybe. I don’t know.
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Without the context of the movie all three songs could diplay the love between two men, but as I got to know that male friendship can involve a kind of love for each other that doesn’t need sexual contact still being physical, too, I would always try to relate on the story.
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All three of these movies are definitely winking at the audience, I think. They know exactly how we are reading these songs and that is how they want them to be read. Arjun and Ranveer had a great time on the Gunday press tour flirting with each other, and Sonu Ki Titu had all kinds of purposeful double entendres.
There’s a theory of film studies that “against the grain” readings are really more about hiding the revolutionary message. Even if the rest of the narrative doesn’t fully support the idea embedded in these one songs or scenes, that doesn’t take away from that one song or scene. The makers wanted you to be able to pull out that one part and enjoy it in isolation.
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 2:41 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I need to watch that threesome film, don’t I.
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Sonu Ki Titu Ke Sweety? It’s got layers on layers on layers! Officially it is a bromance about a best friend trying to break up his friends wedding. But you barely need to stretch to see it as a love story between the friends with the bride as the evil enemy to love. But then there’s the unfortunate fact that the bride has crazy chemistry with the friend character, so it almost feels like they are going to kiss at any moment. I think throuple might have been the happiest possible ending.
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 2:56 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Sounds great, but it does seem like it should have been a polycule! Soft focus romance for everyone!
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In Hollywood that would be Ben Hur, where Charleton Heston had no idea his character was supposed to be gay but the director and the other actor were all GAAAAAAYYYY.
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There’s also Design for Living which really only makes sense if it is about a threesome, but they somehow skated it past the censors all “no no, they are just good friends”.
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 3:13 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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This was very tough to decide and it took some real thinking let me tell you.
I feel like the last one should automatically lose for having hetero-erotic moments, but then it’s basically a Merchant Ivory film on its own. The endless longing glances, and classic romance tropes like hand touching and helping him into the saddle. Wow. Thanks for bringing this into my life.
Yeh Dosti has motorcycles and the other Yeh Dosti references and Bobby being very toppy somehow and the most touching out of all of them, plus some quality longing glances from Akshay (Bobby is too busy being a top to glance longingly).
The Gunday one ALSO has Yeh Dosti references, Ranveer, and then two other Amitabh references, and Amitabh films are the gayest in classic Bollywood as we all know. On the other hand, fewer longing glances and less touching. I think I still have to give it to this one, though, because of the mud wrestling and because there are a few shots where you feel like it could literally turn into a gay porn at any second.
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Just so you can relax, the last one has a happy ending. He refuses to hand over the garland and makes one last impassioned plea for the groom to pick him over the bride then walks out of the wedding. The bride thinks she has triumphed, but in the end the groom tells her good bye and walks away from the wedding fire to chase after his “friend”.
Yes! Bobby and Akshay have something special together. Maybe because they only did the one movie? Kept it magical and rare?
The Gunday song is definitely very…naked, I think is the word I want? The wedding song is all formal and romantic, the Dosti song has the usual 90s modesty and layers, but Gunday really puts it all out there.
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 2:54 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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lol that seems like the logical conclusion, judging from this. I really loved that slow old fashioned vibe. I feel bad for the bride though, someone write her a lesbian song.
Akshay is pretty good at homoeroticism, I’ve noticed, but he pairs very well with Bobby’s toppy energy here especially.
Yeah it’s very naked, and I feel like it’s aimed at a gay audience, with the belly shirts and the manliness and the touching and the kiss fake outs. But idk how a gay man in India would see it.
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Your entire comment made me cackle with delight 😄
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Thank you!
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Someone suggested this song to me on Twitter as a gay song candidate, what do you think?
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I don’t know, to me that one feels much more brotherly. It could maybe be Shahrukh mooning over a younger man who doesn’t see him, but there is so much else going on in the song. And somehow the way Shahrukh is looking at and interacting with Zayed feels protective and indulgent, not passionate.
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 5:52 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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My rankings
2
3
1
2 literally feels like it can’t be anything else but 2 gay men singing about their bond in a Classic 80s-90s BWd way.
3 is so romantic and tender and bittersweet that it makes me want to make sweet love to my heterosexual partner. Like the “money” kiss in Brokeback mountain or the final love scene in Made in Heaven, it transcends being about gay people and is just about love, passion, feelings and forbidden or deep bonds.
1 also transcends gayness because it’s so self aware that it’s primarily about humour. It feels like an SNL or AIB skit, where hetero comedians try to cram every homosexual trope ever into a single video, thus poking fun at gayness but in a such a good natured exalted way that people of all sexualities can laugh at/with it.
Put another way, if the gunday song is about gayness, then SNL’s famous “D*ck in a Box” viral video song is about heterosexual love. Which it’s not… It’s about poking fun of heterosexual love tropes, particularly those present in trite 1990s R&B sex-pop videos.
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Agree about Gunday! It is so extreme, that it feels like everyone involved must have known exactly what they were doing. While 2 feels like someone involved knew what he was doing and managed to make it look like everyone else did too (maybe the editor? I could see him picking just the exact moments he wanted).
And 3, the whole movie is blurring the line between friendship and romantic love, this song is just the culmination. It’s a love story between the two heroes straight through, and whether that is erotic love or platonic love, it’s in full beautiful flower in this song.
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 6:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I disagree with your ranking and yet everything in this comment is true.
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What is going ON in the Yeh Dosti video? When they are both in the gurdwara? I thought it was like a funeral for someone close to Bobby, and Akshay goes for support even though he’s not Sikh and watches with tears in his eyes, but then the immediate smiling and laughing and hugging each other and punching and finger guns made me think it must be something less somber.
But, yeah, hella gay, especially the “you’re the cutest!” “no, YOU’RE the cutest” pointy thing they do at the beginnign.
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I think it was just the usual scene of “visiting a temple together made me realize I see God in you” from all the other films. Right? So overcome with love that they cried?
Do you think I need to actually watch the movie Dosti? It seems sooooooooooooooo bad. But there is always the slight chance that the dialogue surrounding the song will make more sense of the actual song.
On Wed, Jun 19, 2019 at 10:28 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Wouldn’t there be a synopsis somewhere on the web so you don’t have to?
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Oh sure, but I never trust those (unless it is my own scene by scenes). They are friends, one is rich and one is poor, they fall in love with the same girl, lots of sacrifice, blah blah blah.
On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 1:02 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Nope, I can’t choose! These represent such different kinds of homo-erotic expression, and I don’t know, phases in relationships? I especially enjoyed all the machinery in the first two. I mean, planes, trains, bikes, and automobiles. Lots of mounting, dismounting, fiddling with things between each others’ legs, and powerfully thrusting engines.
1. So over the top macho–this is the kind of man love that the ancient Greeks would really get. We love our manliness so much, of course the highest forms of love and sex are also between men.
2. An established relationship where there is plenty of comfort and companionship but plenty of spark still left also. Wow, I have newfound respect for Akshay after this video. So sweet!
3. This is pure longing, yearning, pining. Hurts so good kinda stuff! Actually I might pick this one first, then tie the other two for second. Because this one doesn’t have any distractions–it is nothing but the electricity–positive and negative–between these people. I haven’t yet been able to stay awake through this whole movie, by the way. Maybe I can make it now that I know this song awaits at some point.
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I was thinking that same thing! That they are kind of like different phases of a relationship. The Gunday song is all about sex sex sex, that passionate purely physical early phase. And then the Dosti song is just sweet being in love, when it goes beyond sex and into comfort and affection and romance and infatuation. And the Sonu Ki Titu song is of course the peak of romance, a couple that is destined to be together beyond sex and beyond simple infatuation.
If you watch the whole movie as your standard Devdas childhood lovers who circumstances are pulling apart kind of plot, it works much better.
On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 10:17 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Heck, the song you posted is basically “Hamesha Tumko Chaha”, right down to helping carry the loved one to the wedding.
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And it’s played seriously! It could easily have been a spoof video, but instead the relationship breaking up is made into the real tragedy it is.
On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 11:03 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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The one with AK and Bobs definitely wins! 😅
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No “Dhan te nan”? Charlie and Mikhail are totally a couple, as seen by Charlie’s Achilles-like vengeance for the death of his Patrokles at the very end of Kaminey.
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I love that idea! Achilles and Patrokles. And I would add their bathroom wrestling to my “most gay” scenes, but I think the song that follows it could still be read as “just” a club song.
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1 is super-sexual. 2 is a combo of sexual energy and romance. 3 is mushy romance.
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