Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Brunch
TALK ABOUT TOWN
It’s 2020. Isn’t it strange that India’s just beginning to accept LGBTQIA+ cinema?
The monologue at the end of Call Me By Your Name by actor Michael Stuhlbarg is one of the most poignant scenes in the film. Michael’s character ‘casually’ has a heart to heart talk with his 17-year-old son about his alleged affair with another man. He says: ‘But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything – what a waste!’
Call Me By Your Name was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actor for 21-year-old Timothée Chalamet. It won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was one of the most critical and commercial successes of 2017. Sadly it also had the demeritorious distinction of not having a theatrical release in India due to its LGBTQIA+ theme. The studio decided not to release the film here.
I questioned why such a decision was taken. There were and soundtrack. It reminded me of the classic French song, Plaisir d’amour: “The joy of love is but a moment long, the pain of love endures the whole life long.”
CUPBOARD LOVE
In May the same year, a small LGBTQIA+ film, Love, Simon made waves in the US. It was a coming-ofage story about a teenage boy who establishes a connection with another boy on email. I looked forward to its release, certain it would not meet the same fate as Call Me By Your Name. To my dismay, this film too was not each other didn’t go down well with our patriarchal society.
But that was 1996 and this was 2017. In two decades, nothing had changed. Art is a reflection of society and we were clearly not ready to embrace the diversity of humankind provided by the gods.
GAY ABANDON
A surprising and much awaited silver lining came on September 6, 2018, when a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court unanimously decriminalised part of the 158-year-old colonial
Altogether, it received 177 wins and 316 nominations for awards.
Despite the decriminalisation of section 377, the studio decided to not release it in India because of its LQBTQIA+ theme.
WE’RE HERE…
The 2019 Bollywood release
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga seemed promising, but did not manage to encourage conversations around itself. It also seemed to shy away from even moderately declaring and marketing itself as the first mainstream LGBTQIA+ film in India.
However, the Netflix drama Made In Heaven, directed by Zoya Akhtar, unapologetically had a gay character as the hero. He had an incredible character arc and just happened to be queer. Finally, it seems, filmmakers are looking at representing strong characters in Indian cinema, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Last month came Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan by one of India’s most talented actors, Ayushmann Khurrana. It remains to be seen whether the sexually fluid characters of this film will be accepted by its audience. Are we ready, or will we have to wait longer to hear these words on celluloid: ‘I’m just a boy, standing in front of a boy, wanting him to love him!’
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan