Bollywood

Bollywood is referenced throughout the novel, representing the ideal romance and wedding as pictured in movies. This symbol also bookends the novel as it is one of the first symbols mentioned, as well as the last. Bollywood is the name for the Hollywood of India, with similarly famous and glamorous actors. Jaigirdar includes Bollywood as a symbol to prove that there is the concept of an ideal romance or relationship, and then there is the reality. She also includes this to show not only the standard Nishat measures romance against, but also to show that queer people want the same chance at romance as heterosexual people. Nishat starts the novel by comparing her parents' romance to Bollywood, “I always imagine a movie- moment meeting, exactly like in a Bollywood movie. Their eyes meet across a crowded room” (2). When she sees Flavia she thinks it might be...