‘Broadcasters shied away from making films on homosexuality’
Rishabh Suri
At a time when homosexuality and homosexual characters were were made fun of in filma, actor Sanjay Suri starred in films such as My Brother… Nikhil (2005) and I Am (2010), which were lauded for the sensitive portrayal of the topic and for the way the characters were treated. In recent times, Kapoor & Sons was one such film, starring Alia Bhatt, Fawad Khan and Sidharth Malhotra.
Come 2020, and we have a host of films based on samesex relationships, such as Shubh Mangal Zyaada Saavdhan and Dostana 2, in the making. Does Sanjay feel that things have finally changed for the better, or these are exceptions rather than the norm?
“I’m happy it was addressed,” he says, adding, “You’ve got to be careful when you’re pointing out ‘this is the other’, it’s automatically not inclusive. Whereas in our films, we sort of stayed away from that. That was the socalled ‘mainstream’ for us, not alternate. For us, inclusivity was the main thing.”
The actor goes on to recall when someone called Onir a ‘gay’ director. “You don’t call someone a ‘hetero’ director. Be it a Hindu, Muslim or a director of any faith or religion; you don’t need to do all that. A lot has changed with decriminalisation. But at the individual level, the stigma still exists. Now broadcasters have opened up to making films about acceptance and all. They shied away from it before it was decriminalised and suddenly they want to say ‘we support it’?”
Sanjay, who was recently seen in the film Jhalki (2019), also reveals that I Am didn’t have any takers on television, due to the reluctance to back such content. “I Am couldn’t find a satellite backer (they said) ‘it’s alternate content, X Y Z’… but I remain positive. I am glad about what we did then. It will be interesting to see more content like it, where no extra attention is brought to things like that in your characters,” says the 48-year old.