Indian gay franchise ‘Dunno Y…’ goes digital with third part

MUMBAI: After receiving international acclaim and 11 international awards, Dunno Y Na Jaane Kyun (2010) is set for its third installment. The sequel of the controversial film was released in 2015. Titled Dunno Y2... Life Is A Moment, the sequel was also the first Indian-Norwegian collaboration.

The movie became a heavy topic of discussion not just for its bold content but also for the portrayal of a gay couple, which was a taboo in Indian society back then. As per TellyChakkar’s exclusive information, unlike its predecessor, the third installment of the franchise won’t be a feature film but a digital series instead. Titled Dunno Y3 Love You Always, the project will repeat its original cast --Kapil Kaustubh Sharma and Yuvraaj Parashar.

Yuvraaj Parashar, who is also the producer of the film, confirmed the news with TellyChakkar. For making the third part a digital series, Parashar implied, “We are bowled over by the reach the earlier two films made digitally. The franchise has a huge fan following not only in India but worldwide, irrespective of people’s sexuality. And somewhere, we feel this genre and the subject have more freedom, scope and reach on the digital medium than theatre. And now the digital medium is getting big and it’s a matter of a few years that it will be as big as movies.”

While the first two parts were directed by Sanjay Sharma, the upcoming one will be directed by the lead actor Kapil Kaustubh Sharma. The actor made his directorial debut with the web-series Love Life & Screw Ups!!! Sharma is also scripting the project. Talking about the third part, he said, “The idea is not to cash in the popularity of the franchise. If I have to make a third part it needs to be better than the first and second which is not easy. Every second day, I get messages in my inbox from new fans.”

He further added, “For a while, we were looking out for a right subject for this genre. Finally, a couple of months back, an idea splashed in my mind. And as the script is getting written, I can confidently say it is going to be the best one out of the three. It will be an emotional ride, but full of fun and humor and the presentation will be very international.”

The project had popular names in its ensemble cast including Zeenat Aman, Kabir Bedi, Helen, Rituparna Sengupta, Tara Sharma, Meera. On the cast, Kapil stated, “It’s too early to talk about the entire cast of the series. But, it will star popular names along with a few newcomers. Apart from protagonists, it will have three lead male and female characters. Right now, the final scripting is on for the start to finish shoot to be held in August.”

Interestingly, Yuvraaj shared, that “this August, the second part will screen in Denmark and the first part, even after eight years of its release, will screen in the prestigious Cardiff international film festival, in the category of international cult classic.”

Unlike its first part, which was on the verge of getting banned for India’s first homosexual kissing, the third one won’t have bold content and will instead be more romantically inclined.