Producer: Sanjay Suri, Vicky
Director: Onario
Cast: Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Suri, Dipannita Sharma, Victor Bannerjee and Purab Kohli.
Music: Viveck Philip

The issue of AIDS has been tackled before in Bollywood, the most recent being Phir Milenge directed by Revathy starring Shilpa Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan and Salman Khan.

My Brother Nikhil boasts of a very unique theme as it a story not only about an AIDS patient, but also delves into the subject of Homosexuality, a very controversial topic in our culture.

The story unfolds in Goa between the years 1987 and 1994 and tells the story of Nikhil (Sanjay Suri). All the characters in the film introduce themselves to the viewers and narrate the story of the guy they all loved - Nikhil.

Navin (Victor Bannerjee), father and coach is very proud of his son Nikhil's achievement, who is a state-level swimming champion of Goa. Nikhil is a very adorable guy whom everybody loves and has also won a scholarship from the sports ministry. His life comprises of his family, including his doting mother Anita Kapoor (Lillete Dubey), his elder sister Anamika (Juhi Chawla) who is his closest pal and confidante, Leena Gomes (Dipannita Sharma) who wants to marry him and boy friend Nigel (VJ Purab Kohli).

The movie takes a turn when Nikhil is arrested for some reasons. His parents who are unable to face social humiliation abandon him and friends and colleagues shun him too. Life is never the same for Nikhil as he is later sent to a secluded hospital ward and kept in solitary confinement, the reason being that he has been tested HIV Positive. During this time, it is only the love of his sister Anamika and the comradeship of his friend Nigel that pulls him through the crisis. The two along with Nikhil fight relentlessly in pursuit of justice and social acceptance.

The theme of My Brother Nikhil is both emotionally compelling and socially relevant backed with some brilliant perfomance. The entire film has a certain amount of subtleness to it. The fact that the main protagonist is a homosexual has been treated with utmost sensitivity and there is absolutely no vulgarity or grossness about it. The only drawback in the film is that it becomes extremely slow towards the second half and the director could have done away with some editing.

Sanjay Suri who turns producer with this film has given an extraordinary perfomance. Very few people can do justice to this unique role. This only goes to prove that the actor has immense potential in him, which needs to be nurtured and director Onario has done just that. Juhi Chawla as the endearing, supportive and defiant elder sister has given her career best perfomance. Purab Kohli as the gay lover is simply marvelous. Victor Banerjee as always is tremendous. The other star cast includes Gautam Kapoor, Dipannita Sharma, Shweta Kawaatra, Shayan Munshi, Peeya Rai Choudhary and Sujoy Ghosh.

Cinematography by Arvind Kannabiran is striking, especially the locales of Goa and the various emotions of the characters which have been captured well in the camera. Music by Viveck Philip is just about okay and dialogues by Amitabh Varma are a welcome change from the other movies as this has a very natural appeal.

Though the film might not do well at the beginning, it might be able to hold it's end at the box office. A must see movie!

Stills - My Brother Nikhil

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