Amar Prem Ki Prem Kahani is a colossal disappointment that somehow manages to trivialize every important aspect of the LGBT experience in India. If you’re looking for meaningful representation or thoughtful storytelling, do yourself a favor and re-watch Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan or Badhaai Do. Those films, at least, attempted to address the complex layers of coming out, familial acceptance, and queer relationships with some degree of respect.

This movie, however, is nothing short of a cringe fest. The themes of coming out, navigating family pressures, and the possibility of having an Indian wedding are treated with such laziness that it feels more like a poorly scripted soap opera than a real attempt at tackling these serious issues. Instead of nuanced discussions, we’re handed over-the-top dramatics and dialogue that seem written for shock value rather than sincerity.

The worst offense is that it seems like a desperate attempt to piggyback off the success of Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani by throwing in a cheap Bengali-Punjabi rivalry and dressing it up as some sort of “inclusive” remix. But where Rocky Aur Rani had heart and substance, Amar Prem Ki Prem Kahani falls flat. The characters are walking clichés, and the emotional depth of a truly Indian queer experience is completely absent.

The title itself is a disgrace to Amar Prem, Shakti Samanta’s timeless classic that embodied emotional depth and cinematic grace. This sad excuse for a film is not even worthy of being compared. It fails to touch the elegance of comedies like The Birdcage, the searing pathos of Brokeback Mountain, or even the hauntingly beautiful Aligarh, which handled queer struggles in India with heartbreaking precision. Even Kapoor & Sons, a film that showed restraint in not having its gay characters kiss, offered more emotional resonance and subtlety than this hollow disaster.

The end result? A tacky, outdated mess that insults the intelligence of its audience and does more harm than good to the cause of LGBT representation.