InFilm to Miss: Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001)

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001)

Viewing Platform: Netflix

The affluent, successful business owner Yash Raichand and his wife Nandini are unable to have children of their own. One day Yash brings home an orphan and adopts him, and their family feels complete. Eight years later, Rahul becomes a big brother, much to everyone's surprise. Rohan is loved, adored and considered a miracle baby, but he still knows his mother loves his older brother best, a brother he grows up thinking is a blood relation. It isn't until ten years after his brother suddenly leaves home that Rohan overhears the truth. Will Rohan succeed in bringing his brother home and reunite his broken family? Or will their father's pride continue to prevent reconciliation?

*There was so much sadness in this family, not even the incredibly hokey early 2000s dance numbers and ridiculous fashion could lighten the heaviness in this film. Who separates a mother from her child for a decade just because the father doesn't agree with the child's choice in mate? What wife says nothing to the man who is responsible for tearing their happy family apart? Perhaps there were cultural elements to this story that I could just not understand, including a son that is so “obedient” as to never challenge a parent's incorrect judgment. Sure, everyone cries (spoiler alert) and is repentant at the end, but it doesn't justify the fact this man stole a decade of love from his own family all because of something he said in anger that no one dared to correct because he was the “god” of the house. Plus it had that high pitched, nasally female voice I dislike from that period and several provocative dance numbers with scantily clad women. I won't watch this again.*

TDrama to Miss: Bromance (2015)

Bromance (2015)

Grade: C-

20 episodes, 40 minutes each
Viewing Platform: Dramafever

Pi Yanuo has been leading a double life since she was born: she must live her life as a boy until her 26^th birthday, in order to avoid the terrible fate a local fortune teller predicted for her parents. Yanuo learned martial arts, has a boyish haircut, and only wears clothes made for boys in order to trick her destiny and keep herself safe. But 100 days before her 26^th birthday, when she can lead her life as a woman, she helps Du Zi Feng fend off an attack, not realizing the man she helped was the general manager of the amusement park, as well as a triad gang leader. What happens when Zi Feng asks Yanuo to become his “sworn brother” and work for him? Will Yanuo be able to ward off Zi Feng's sister's advances? How will strife within the triad impact their relationship? And what happens when an old elementary school friend arrives on the scene to steal Yanuo's affections?

*I had a hard time finishing this drama. It's half gang story and half gay love story, what with murder over drug trafficking and Yanuo's secret about her being a girl – both subjects which I do not enjoy as entertainment. It was also difficult to have that “suspension of disbelief” for these two virtual strangers to go so far as to swear fealty for each other, then immediately put themselves in risky situations for the other person over and over. It's not justified in their relationship to do something crazy like that so soon after meeting, nor does it make sense for their characters – the viewer doesn't know them well enough to judge if the risky behavior is typical for those characters or not. Then there was way too much kissing throughout – it ruins all the buildup if the two lovers are kissing every other episode, or several times an episode. Additionally, I did not find the two main actors attractive (Yanuo is a pretty woman, but an ugly man), and like I've said before, when I am spending hours watching actors, I have to at least find them a little attractive in order to fully enjoy the show. I really did not enjoy this drama, and I won't watch it again.*