At gatherings, friends talk about their lovers and affairs. It’s almost like everyone shies away from it. Most queer narratives are devoid of desire. Recently, we wrapped up the shooting of Pine Cone, which is the story of a gay man navigating love and life. The stories I wish to tell don’t fit into their “baby steps”. For every concept, script or proposal that I sent to studios, producers and platforms in recent years, I usually got this response: ‘This is too gay’, or ‘We are taking baby steps’. Has the striking down of Section 377 encouraged more storytellers to tell queer stories?
Catering to the box office means you are trying to fit into certain notions of being populist.ĪLSO READ | Onir interview: ‘Why can’t a creative person in a democratic country question any institution?’ You see one nationalist soldier film after the other releasing or remakes of south Indian movies.
When one movie does well, everyone starts doing similar stuff. Mainstream cinema can be more progressive. Is it a tragedy? Or, is it something you are showing as a way out or a celebration? It is this point of view that makes a difference. People always give this excuse that this is the reality. Nearly 17 years later, you see movies where characters are begging to be accepted or willing to lead a life of compromise to fit into a heteronormative society. My lead character was willing to walk out of his home and family unless he and his lover were accepted. In 2005, I made My Brother…Nikhil, which got a ‘U’ certificate then. Why is this change not reflected as much in mainstream cinema in India? Youngsters are much more empowered today and connected to people who belong to the community or are allies to make their journey easier.ĪLSO READ | Pride Month: ‘Push boundaries, one step at a time’ There is so much reference that people have access to, today. Today, you see people from small towns and villages making videos and reels featuring the queer narrative. However, others were not criminalised by law unlike those who identify as queer. We are a long way from being an equal society - on the basis of caste, gender and sexuality - but that’s something a lot of us are fighting for.
With homosexuals no longer being treated as criminals (after the Supreme Court in 2018 repealed Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalised gay sex), it empowers the community to fight for other civil rights. You saw a queer character on the big screen for the first time when you watched My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) while studying at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. Most Arab countries criminalise same-sex relations, and there have been reports of inhumane detention and invasive searches in many of them in recent years.ALSO READ | ‘We need to start normalising queer characters in films’: Indian screenwriter Mrittika ‘Mou’ Sarin
Several countries in the Middle East and North Africa have also banned Disney’s latest animation Lightyear as it shows a kissing scene between a lesbian couple. Saudi Arabia very recently took a decision to seize all rainbow-coloured toys in a crackdown on what they say is "homosexual colours which target the youth." Other countries have taken similar decisions in the past. Others made fun of it, saying any brand which depicts colours of the rainbow must be banned. While several applauded the decision, others condemned the move. The ministry then asks people to inform them if they see any flags or phrases which include such "immorality." On the right the poster reads in Arabic "the flag which violates public morals includes only six colours" in reference to the pride flag, and on the left, underneath a rainbow, reads "the normal rainbow includes seven colours."
The Arabic hashtag "Take part in monitoring" went viral on Twitter and other social media platforms as the Ministry of Trade and Industry shared a picture of a rainbow alongside the multi-coloured pride flag, telling people to recognise the difference.
Kuwait wants its general public to report to authorities if they see the pride flag, as part of an ongoing campaign to crack down on any LGBTQ+ symbolism in the Gulf state.