What is the meaning of Bomi Bulsara's request?

Question

At the end of Bohemian Rhapsody, right before the Live Aid concert, Freddy Mercury meets his parents and sister together with Jim Hutton.

At one point, he says Jim is his friend and hold hands with him. His father then hushes his daughter Kashmira to give Jim some sweets.

The camera clearly focuses on the plate which is handed to Jim and we see him parting hands with Freddy, taking in his left hand the sweet.

Did Bomi Bulsara have the sweets offered so that they do not hold hands together, or just to ease the tension?

The next scene shows that the father and the son are reconciliated to some point, at least from the perspective of Freddy professional activities. I was wondering whether he also (in real life) accepted his sexual orientation.

Answer 1

The scene with the sweets is open to interpretation. I felt he did it to divert attention from the two of them holding hands, and to "reset" the conversation.

As to what his father thought in real life, it's important to remember that the movie was a fictionalized account of his life. There are many, many things the movie got wrong, from how Freddie met Mary to how Freddie became involved with Queen, to the timing of his discovering he had AIDS, and on and on. In fact, his parents didn't know about his sexuality outside of what the news presented (i.e. that famous "outing" by former lover and manager Paul Prenter), which they most likely thought were lies. He didn't discuss it with his family, and I would almost guarantee he didn't hold hands with Jim in his parents house, if he even stopped by there that day to begin with. His parents practiced Zoroastrianism, a religion that saw being gay as a type of demon worship.