The coming out of Manavendra Singh Gohil as a gay man--the only Indian royal to do so--has caused quite a stir in Gujarat (with news travelling as far as London), within the circles of the erstwhile princely families, and specifically in his native Rajpipla.
My friend Vivek Raj Anand has written a wonderful piece on Manav (as we call him) that can be read on the Gay_Bombay Yahoo! list.
Manav's life would make a wonderful subject for a film and a documentary may be in the works already.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Lessons from Jammu and Lucknow
It's an affliction that's widespread in our police force. They would rather harass and out two grown-up gay people rather than fight terrorism and real crime.
Two adult lesbians in Jammu were threatened and humiliated for living together, even arrested let off (because they had to be--there is nothing in the law books against lesbianism) but not without being forcibly separated and handed over to their respective families, with a (unofficial?) directive to stay separate.
No wonder we have blasts after blasts (and there's more to come, you bet!). Even if there's nothing in the law that makes it a crime for lesbians to cohabit or even have sex, the police will poke their idiotic noses in our affairs. It's time we stopped being diffident and told errant cops to get off our backs!
One big mistake on the part of the LGBT community is that the police have not been sensitized to our issues. So you will find the Lucknow incident where gay outreach workers who are spreading AIDS prevention messages or ordinary gay men who cruise the Internet being arrested and humiliated (in front of the national media too boot--and the National Human Rights Commission cares a whit about it). On the other hand there have been no such incidents in Bombay where the Humsafar Trust has (disclosure: I am a trustee) been regularly holding workshops for the police force in different areas of the city.
It's time LGBT communities everywhere became more proactive instead of reacting to crises.
Two adult lesbians in Jammu were threatened and humiliated for living together, even arrested let off (because they had to be--there is nothing in the law books against lesbianism) but not without being forcibly separated and handed over to their respective families, with a (unofficial?) directive to stay separate.
No wonder we have blasts after blasts (and there's more to come, you bet!). Even if there's nothing in the law that makes it a crime for lesbians to cohabit or even have sex, the police will poke their idiotic noses in our affairs. It's time we stopped being diffident and told errant cops to get off our backs!
One big mistake on the part of the LGBT community is that the police have not been sensitized to our issues. So you will find the Lucknow incident where gay outreach workers who are spreading AIDS prevention messages or ordinary gay men who cruise the Internet being arrested and humiliated (in front of the national media too boot--and the National Human Rights Commission cares a whit about it). On the other hand there have been no such incidents in Bombay where the Humsafar Trust has (disclosure: I am a trustee) been regularly holding workshops for the police force in different areas of the city.
It's time LGBT communities everywhere became more proactive instead of reacting to crises.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Guns and 'Romance' - My Vote For The Best Picture Oscar
I am not being self-congratulatory but the plain truth is I chose the right film between Crash and Brokeback Mountain. I posted this on desicritics.org about 30 minutes before the Oscar ceremony began. (see the link in the title for my original desicrtitics post or read the cross-post below.)
I have seen two Oscar favorites so far, and my own vote goes to Crash. Brokeback Mountain, in spite of being a gay-themed film, did not move me the way Crash does.
I can think of several possible reasons for this --other than the intrinsic merits of these films. In random order: The accents (I think I did not understand one-third of the dialogue) in BM, its slow pace, and the fact that I have seen enough closeted men up-close so that I look at most of them with a clinical detachment.
Crash is also a tension-filled drama compared to BM's dry love story. The former leaves you with some hope, while BM leaves me, as a gay man, neither seething with anger at the homophobia (too subtle) nor does it make me cry buckets. I am not a fan of violence in film but here it was too fleeting to either hurt or outrage me (the way I was outraged by the violation of a woman's body in Crash). I would prefer the docu on the Matthew Shepard case instead.
To me Crash is not just about racial prejudice but also a comment on America's gun culture. I have no knowledge about the situation in the States, but I know that enough discrimination exists on the individual level and there is enough violence involving guns to make them alive issues--they may disappear from the public radar but they do not go away. BM's flag for the gay issue is too underplayed for my liking.
In India, coincidentally, some cases of shootings are in the spotlight again, though unfortunately I am yet to see any debate around gun control. I am of course referring to the cases of Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Matoo and now the latest Meher Bhargava case.
It's time lawmakers and police officals made it more difficult for people to posses firearms rather than making it more tough to run places of entertainment. Or making it a crime for two men to love each other.
Anyway, here's a nice review of Crash by Philip French of The Guardian (not sure why he calls it Hollywood's last taboo though) and one by desicritic, Shanti.
I seem to prefer Philip French over Peter Bradshaw, but I can't agree with French's lavish praise of BM. I would by and large agree with desicritic Triniman's thoughts on Brokeback Mountain.
With the Oscars just beginning. Crash might just crash Brokeback's party.
I have seen two Oscar favorites so far, and my own vote goes to Crash. Brokeback Mountain, in spite of being a gay-themed film, did not move me the way Crash does.
I can think of several possible reasons for this --other than the intrinsic merits of these films. In random order: The accents (I think I did not understand one-third of the dialogue) in BM, its slow pace, and the fact that I have seen enough closeted men up-close so that I look at most of them with a clinical detachment.
Crash is also a tension-filled drama compared to BM's dry love story. The former leaves you with some hope, while BM leaves me, as a gay man, neither seething with anger at the homophobia (too subtle) nor does it make me cry buckets. I am not a fan of violence in film but here it was too fleeting to either hurt or outrage me (the way I was outraged by the violation of a woman's body in Crash). I would prefer the docu on the Matthew Shepard case instead.
To me Crash is not just about racial prejudice but also a comment on America's gun culture. I have no knowledge about the situation in the States, but I know that enough discrimination exists on the individual level and there is enough violence involving guns to make them alive issues--they may disappear from the public radar but they do not go away. BM's flag for the gay issue is too underplayed for my liking.
In India, coincidentally, some cases of shootings are in the spotlight again, though unfortunately I am yet to see any debate around gun control. I am of course referring to the cases of Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Matoo and now the latest Meher Bhargava case.
It's time lawmakers and police officals made it more difficult for people to posses firearms rather than making it more tough to run places of entertainment. Or making it a crime for two men to love each other.
Anyway, here's a nice review of Crash by Philip French of The Guardian (not sure why he calls it Hollywood's last taboo though) and one by desicritic, Shanti.
I seem to prefer Philip French over Peter Bradshaw, but I can't agree with French's lavish praise of BM. I would by and large agree with desicritic Triniman's thoughts on Brokeback Mountain.
With the Oscars just beginning. Crash might just crash Brokeback's party.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Gulabi Aaina DVD available for sale
This is a plug for my friend, Sridhar (and no Sridhar, this is not out of any guilt for my previous post panning your latest, 'Yours Emotionally'
Press Release:
BOLLYWOOD GAY FILM DVD OUT !
Festival favourite, award winning Bollywood riotous comedy ' The Pink Mirror' (Gulabi Aaina) is NOW available for online DVD purchase.
'The Pink Mirror' (Gulabi Aaina) - a Bollywood entertainer with a difference : India's first film on Drag Queens is a 40min. camp romp about two drag queens and a gay teenager seducing a handsome hunk! The film, for the first time, peeps into the fascinating campy closet of Indian gender-benders and discovers deep emotional bonds.
Official Selction at a record 56 International Film Fesivals, the film has won Jury Award for Best Film at festivals in Fire Island and France. This underground film which has has found immense critical acclaim from reviewers, festival directors and global audiences. Renowned Universities have added the film to their archives / library an using it as resource material in their academic courses like Gender, Nation and the World; Activist Voices in India; Gender and Film course.
The film's director, Sridhar Rangayan says earnestly, "As you know, there is hardly any resources in South Asian countries to fund / produce queer films and support from all quarters is most welcome. Buy copies of this laugh riot and help us make more! "
DVD online sale site: http://www.customflix.com/208457
Contact info : solaris@solarispictures.com
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Yours Emotionally - II: My take
Portraying desi angst over inane traditions is a Gurinder Chadha specialty; most of her films poke fun at the ‘mummyji’ and the ‘auntyji’, stereotyping them in the process. Contrasting different queer, male identities—South Asian, ‘Western’ (White, American)—is also not a new idea: Jimmy Mistry starrer ‘Touch of Pink’ executed it with some success not too long ago, although I found the passé, comic attempt rather insipid.
Sridhar Rangayan and Niranjan Kamatkar—friends, former roommates and now trans-continental collaborators on ‘Yours Emotionally’—have tried a more serious approach to the questions of identity versus behavior, gay versus homosexual, out versus closeted (and married), desi versus Indian, and desi versus Western. Dense though this may seem, the film fails to plumb any depth of emotion, leaving one feeling cold.
But before I say more, here’s the synopsis from the film’s website:
Ravi & Paul, two friends from Leicester, end up attending a gay party in the small Indian town of Shimoga, upon an invitation of Ravi’s Parsee email-pal Jeh from Mumbai. A genteel dreamer Ravi instantly falls in love with Mani - a dark and handsome local working man.
Ravi and Paul also meet an older male couple, Murthy and Anna, now in their sixties. Murthy has lived in the UK to avoid marriage. When he returns to attend his mother’s funeral, his lover Anna (a married man by then) convinces him to stay back. After his wife’s death, Anna decides to join Murthy and they run a hotel. Both Ravi & Paul are surprised to meet the older same-sex couple.
Although Ravi can’t let go of his newfound love, Mani cannot overcome the vast gap that exists between them. Mani is under constant pressure to get married to a woman. When Ravi asks Mani to accompany him to UK, Mani shows very little willingness. Ravi seeks Murthy and Anna’s help, but the couple hide behind words of wisdom and express inability to bring Ravi and Mani together. Tension brews between Ravi and Paul due to sexually charged Mani and the situation highlights some nasty cracks in their friendship... Mani throws in a surprise at the farewell meeting that Ravi’s asked for...
And here’s what the director says about the film:
‘Yours Emotionally’ is as much about love and passion as about cultural contrasts and gay identity as perceived from different angles. Though these elements are to form the backdrop, they actually thrust themselves to the forefront, entangling the five principal characters in its emotional web. The film is a tribute to gay men who negotiate their same-sex-love identities within the stringent social, religious, cultural boundaries. It is a tribute to their grit and strength at fighting some of the stereotypes.The film, treated in a cinema vérité kind of realism with surrealistic passages, is set in its protagonist’s ‘mindspace’ and reflects his love, passion, happiness and fears through colors tones, textures and transitions. The real and imaginary merge to create a bizarre world of emotions that is actually his journey through a holiday.While making a film it is always difficult to present realities without prejudice… and keep a balance - both cultural and emotional. There are always huge expectations from anything made of this nature since there are very few opportunities of public expressions for such issues. In that sense, ‘Yours Emotional’ has been a challenge to me as a director and I hope I have been able to do justice to the characters.
It’s a fairly plausible, real story whose value is its documentation of the realities of India’s homosexual males. But what does it do beyond that? There are a few niggling problems with the film, but one could overlook them if one connects with the characters. However, I do not feel the pain of Ravi’s doomed love. Nor does the Muthy-Anna relationship warm the proverbial cockles of one’s heart. Am I hard-hearted? Perhaps my boyfriend would agree. But seriously, the film fails to hold my interest. The length—86 minutes—seem like a drag. At the end of which I feel empty, meaningless, soulless.
‘Gulabi Aaina’ is less than half the length of ‘Yours Emotionally’ but has enough drama to hold your attention. And there’s the witty, bitchy repartee as well. (Click here for my comments on ‘Gulabi Aaina.) Maybe I had high expectations of ‘Yours Emotionally’, given the film’s theme and its name. (By the way, the exclamation in its name is certainly unwarranted.)
There’s little emotional quotient here. But where are things going wrong? The problem perhaps is that I have little patience for people like Ravi who fall in love after one night of sex and are willing to take strangers home (in this case, the UK!) I don’t deny there’s love at first sight and people lose their heads over it. But do they deserve any sympathy for being obsessed by the objects of their affection? And should Mani get any sympathy for being spineless? Anna and Murthy may be victims of their circumstances but one hears of many Annas and Murthys all the time. Now that they are free of encumbrances, what’s holding them back from coming out of the closet and affirming their relationship?
Well-begun is half done. But the ‘party’ scenes, are not aesthetically done—there’s a squalid, weird feel to them, which casts a shadow over the rest of the film. The producers are even proud of the film having “lots of hot scenes” (as advertised on the website). I am no prude and I admit where there are two gays there’s likely to be sex (and where there are three, an orgy!). And it’s not as if there’s excessive nudity. It’s just that the camera makes it look very ugly. Okay, so how does one portray an orgy? I don’t know but then can’t we have a different beginning to set the tone?
Hats off to the cast for not shying away from a stigmatized subject. Some of them are professional actors, and for their courage in taking up the assignment they deserve a pat on the back.
'Yours Emotionally' is no laugh-out-loud-at-the-clash-of-cultures film. However, its solemn slant and decadent tint are a drag on its offering any emotional high.
Sridhar Rangayan and Niranjan Kamatkar—friends, former roommates and now trans-continental collaborators on ‘Yours Emotionally’—have tried a more serious approach to the questions of identity versus behavior, gay versus homosexual, out versus closeted (and married), desi versus Indian, and desi versus Western. Dense though this may seem, the film fails to plumb any depth of emotion, leaving one feeling cold.
But before I say more, here’s the synopsis from the film’s website:
Ravi & Paul, two friends from Leicester, end up attending a gay party in the small Indian town of Shimoga, upon an invitation of Ravi’s Parsee email-pal Jeh from Mumbai. A genteel dreamer Ravi instantly falls in love with Mani - a dark and handsome local working man.
Ravi and Paul also meet an older male couple, Murthy and Anna, now in their sixties. Murthy has lived in the UK to avoid marriage. When he returns to attend his mother’s funeral, his lover Anna (a married man by then) convinces him to stay back. After his wife’s death, Anna decides to join Murthy and they run a hotel. Both Ravi & Paul are surprised to meet the older same-sex couple.
Although Ravi can’t let go of his newfound love, Mani cannot overcome the vast gap that exists between them. Mani is under constant pressure to get married to a woman. When Ravi asks Mani to accompany him to UK, Mani shows very little willingness. Ravi seeks Murthy and Anna’s help, but the couple hide behind words of wisdom and express inability to bring Ravi and Mani together. Tension brews between Ravi and Paul due to sexually charged Mani and the situation highlights some nasty cracks in their friendship... Mani throws in a surprise at the farewell meeting that Ravi’s asked for...
And here’s what the director says about the film:
‘Yours Emotionally’ is as much about love and passion as about cultural contrasts and gay identity as perceived from different angles. Though these elements are to form the backdrop, they actually thrust themselves to the forefront, entangling the five principal characters in its emotional web. The film is a tribute to gay men who negotiate their same-sex-love identities within the stringent social, religious, cultural boundaries. It is a tribute to their grit and strength at fighting some of the stereotypes.The film, treated in a cinema vérité kind of realism with surrealistic passages, is set in its protagonist’s ‘mindspace’ and reflects his love, passion, happiness and fears through colors tones, textures and transitions. The real and imaginary merge to create a bizarre world of emotions that is actually his journey through a holiday.While making a film it is always difficult to present realities without prejudice… and keep a balance - both cultural and emotional. There are always huge expectations from anything made of this nature since there are very few opportunities of public expressions for such issues. In that sense, ‘Yours Emotional’ has been a challenge to me as a director and I hope I have been able to do justice to the characters.
It’s a fairly plausible, real story whose value is its documentation of the realities of India’s homosexual males. But what does it do beyond that? There are a few niggling problems with the film, but one could overlook them if one connects with the characters. However, I do not feel the pain of Ravi’s doomed love. Nor does the Muthy-Anna relationship warm the proverbial cockles of one’s heart. Am I hard-hearted? Perhaps my boyfriend would agree. But seriously, the film fails to hold my interest. The length—86 minutes—seem like a drag. At the end of which I feel empty, meaningless, soulless.
‘Gulabi Aaina’ is less than half the length of ‘Yours Emotionally’ but has enough drama to hold your attention. And there’s the witty, bitchy repartee as well. (Click here for my comments on ‘Gulabi Aaina.) Maybe I had high expectations of ‘Yours Emotionally’, given the film’s theme and its name. (By the way, the exclamation in its name is certainly unwarranted.)
There’s little emotional quotient here. But where are things going wrong? The problem perhaps is that I have little patience for people like Ravi who fall in love after one night of sex and are willing to take strangers home (in this case, the UK!) I don’t deny there’s love at first sight and people lose their heads over it. But do they deserve any sympathy for being obsessed by the objects of their affection? And should Mani get any sympathy for being spineless? Anna and Murthy may be victims of their circumstances but one hears of many Annas and Murthys all the time. Now that they are free of encumbrances, what’s holding them back from coming out of the closet and affirming their relationship?
Well-begun is half done. But the ‘party’ scenes, are not aesthetically done—there’s a squalid, weird feel to them, which casts a shadow over the rest of the film. The producers are even proud of the film having “lots of hot scenes” (as advertised on the website). I am no prude and I admit where there are two gays there’s likely to be sex (and where there are three, an orgy!). And it’s not as if there’s excessive nudity. It’s just that the camera makes it look very ugly. Okay, so how does one portray an orgy? I don’t know but then can’t we have a different beginning to set the tone?
Hats off to the cast for not shying away from a stigmatized subject. Some of them are professional actors, and for their courage in taking up the assignment they deserve a pat on the back.
'Yours Emotionally' is no laugh-out-loud-at-the-clash-of-cultures film. However, its solemn slant and decadent tint are a drag on its offering any emotional high.
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