Kartik Singh

Physical Appearance
Kartik Singh is a 5 feet nine inches tall ray of sunshine with dense, black hair, brown skin on the lighter side, and a stubble (see image). He has two tattoos (that we know of)- one of Shiv/Shakti on his arm, and the other an upturned triangle on his neck. He is often seen in jeans, and is seen wearing a nose ring at all times, to the point that it's practically become a personality trait.

The man is often described by the fandom as "babie" which is entirely valid. The man is babie.

A real tall, buff one, however. While he's one of the leaner characters Ayushmann has graced the big screen with, Kartik Singh is still pretty damn swole. One can tell he lifts, does not skip leg day, and gets enough protein. Good on him.

Personality
Kartik Singh is a proud homosexual man, and is a raging optimist with a firm belief in love. He is seen, at one point, stating that he would do "Anything for love." He is fiercely loyal, as evidenced by his refusal to leave Aman until after he saw his boyfriend ascend the horse that was to carry him into his marriage with Kusum Nigam.

He's basically bravery and strength personified, which makes him one of the most iconic characters ever created, in our opinion (this is also a fact). Kartik comes from a traumatic past which he has turned into a reason to make the brighter place, rather than letting it turn him bitter/extinguish his faith in love. All the points to him. Kartik cares fiercely for the people he loves and is willing to fight for them even when he's hurting.

But he knows where to draw a line as well. As he should. He knows his worth ("I'm worth it, and you know it"), and knows when to put himself first- as shown by his rightfully walking away from Aman when the latter decided to go ahead with his marriage to Kusum.

Kartik is not one to emote easily, unless he's alone with his boyfriend, Aman Tripathi, whom he is also fiercely protective of ("How dare you touch him?")

He has no patience for homophobia, but is willing to explain and help people see the light if they're willing to listen. (see "character development" for more).

Kartik Singh has a dorky, dad-joke esque sense of humour that shields a more sensitive, deeper soul underneath the clown facade.

Sexuality and Gender Identity
Kartik Singh is an out and proud homosexual. This is made sufficiently clear by his pride cape, his utterly dramatic nature, his inability to keep his hands off his boyfriend Aman one (1) compartment away from said boyfriend's family.

There have been speculations about Kartik Singh's gender fluidity ("Shiv aur Shakti dono"). He is, however, canonically male. But we pretend we do not see.

Early Life and Past
Kartik Singh grew up with no real family, and a "shadow of a father" (his words, translated from hindi) who was shown to be physically abusive. His mother appears to have either died or left the family at a young age, but the fandom consensus is that she passed away when Kartik was still young.

While there is no clear evidence to confirm this, it can be assumed that Kartik did not have many friends growing up, at least in the earlier periods of his childhood. He is seen in the movie running from the boys in his locality because they did not like the colour of his hair, which had been dyed blue.

It was dyed blue because gay

Morals and Ideals
The first and foremost thing Kartik believes in is love, and the right to love free of judgement or societal constraints. He has a strong moral backbone and is prone to giving people the benefit of the doubt, at times at his own expense.

Kartik tends to see the best in people until he is proven wrong, and is very persistent about things that mean a lot to him. Though he can be headstrong, he knows his boundaries.

Abilities and Strengths
Kartik Singh is:


 * a good singer
 * a good dancer
 * can cook for both himself and his spoiled boyfriend :)
 * goes about his batshit ideas with reckless abandon. Good for him.
 * physical pain threshold the size of an ocean. This is also a weakness. Idiot man.
 * good at making terrible jokes
 * a skilled artist. this is now canon. He is also super fucking ripped. It's what he deserves.

Trauma:
Kartik Singh, as he states in the movie, was born to an "shadow of a father" who was apparently physically abusive to him. We take it that his mother passed away when Kartik was young, leaving him to grow up with nobody he could call family.

He grew up in a homophobic household, as evidenced by the incident he has talked about in the movie.

Kartik is seen telling Aman, at one point, about the time his father caught Kartik with his then-boyfriend as a teenager (fandom consensus is that he was around 16 at the time). His father, enraged by the sight of his son with another boy, proceeded to beat Kartik up to the point where the latter had to bite his father's hand to get away. While this story is told with a humorous touch, one is left wondering: what the fuck. But Kartik appears to cope by making light of a sordid situation, so we'll let it slide.

He was then made to relive this traumatic incident at the hands of his boyfriend's father, Shankar Tripathi. There was no biting involved this time. Kartik just dipped like a bowling pin.

Furthermore, there is a theory that suggests the hate crime within the movie had more in common than the one from his childhood than what meets the eye.

This is based off Kartik's incredibly emo recreation of the rhyme, "Jack and Johnny."

Not that any of us need to be reminded how it goes, but here it is anyway:

"Jack and Johnny went up the hill

to live in love and laughter

Jack ki le li papa ne,

aur Johnny chhip gaya bhaag kar"

(transl. "Jack and Johnny went up the hill

to live in love and laughter

Jack got thrashed by his dad,

and Johnny hid soon after")

While this has not been confirmed, there are reasons to believe Kartik's childhood boyfriend abandoned him the day Kartik's father decided to punching bag-zone his son, much like Aman Tripathi "abandoned" him years later.

Weaknesses:

 * love ("anything for love"- ew)
 * Aman Tripathi
 * a stick
 * toothpaste salesperson capes and car windshields

Relationships
Kartik Singh is in a long term relationship with his boyfriend/baby strongest/daddy strongest/love of his life/man he cannot live without (actual words) Aman Tripathi. He is best friends with Devika. It has been hinted that she had a crush on him at some point. Kartik Singh evidently does not surround himself with the brightest people. But he's stupid himself, so he's allowed.

He has a complicated relationship with his boyfriend's father, Shankar Tripathi. Kartik is seen calling him "papa" towards the end of the movie, however the man does not appear to reciprocate Kartik's familial feelings. The two do share a hug before Aman and Kartik depart to catch the train (read: almost miss it for dramatic bollywood purposes). The hug made us all lose our minds don't deny it.

Of all the Tripathis (except his almost-husband), Kartik is closest to Aman's cousin Rajni "Goggle" Tripathi. The two shared a night of travel from the angst station back home. Goggle also helped Kartik wrap the saree he wore towards the end of the movie in a semi-acceptable way. The pair share a brother-sister like relationship. Goggle probably likes Kartik more than she does Aman. Sibling culture.

Trivia

 * ADHD. Thats all.
 * Kartik was cau ght with a boy by his father more than once, because he's mighty stupid like that ("Pehli baar jab mere papa ne mujhe ladke ke saath aan milo sajna karte hue dekha tha-" implying there was more than one time)
 * He's seen with a cloth strapped to his waist after the disastrous kiss happens. We have no idea why it's there. Our only explanation is that he's gay.
 * The tattoo on his arm is that of lord Shiva, symbolising his iconic line, "main Shiv aur Shakti dono"
 * He has a tattoo on his neck of a triangle. This triangle is a symbol of empowerment for people from the LGBTQ+ community (more specifically, gay men). It comes from the downward pointing pink triangle, a symbol used by the nazis to identify gay men. The upturned triangle is a metaphoric subversion of what the triangle once stood for.
 * His bag is probably doraemon's pocket but more gay. Damn thing fits a whole closet in there.
 * He wears a rainbow cape and gets on a roof at one point to decry Shankar as a homophobe via megaphone. This is a subtle allusion to his homosexuality and rage. Blink and you miss it.
 * He hates Kaali Gobi as a concept.
 * He loves Aman Tripathi.
 * Kartik uses poorly timed humour to cope
 * himbo extrordinaire