--- In gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com, Sumeet Mehra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Ketan! > > Its not about bollywood accepting gay cinema but the audience accepting it. And till there is ShivSena in maharashtra, i dont think they will allow such films to be screened. Infact i feel that people do not mind over gayism till its harmless, but Sena never will allow that. > Infact everyone is aware about 14th feb. How they protest and how they treat lovers. They do not want to think beyound. They call it anti Indian Culture. According to me the culture and the society has to change with the demanding situations. We all know that India has changed its culture or else we all would be still wearing Dhoti and Kurtas instead of jeans and t-shirts. This is all double face of politics. So India accepting Gays is still a dream, to come true. But again here I dont feel that we need to beg for Gayism being accepted. Who are they to grant us permission of what we want to do. We live in so called democratic country...bus sirf naam ke liye. When we are all aware why to bang heads on the rock and break our heads. If they cant accept truth, then they are wrong and not we. > >
I don't know what annoys me more about this message - the use of 'gayism', a word that does not exist, or the assertion that nothing openly gay is possible in Bombay at the moment because of fear of the Sena. Sumeet for your information at the moment there are two films running in theatres in Bombay which have queer characters at their centre. Capote is about an openly gay and camp man, Saving Face is about a Chinese-American family where the daughter, the central character, is openly lesbian and her affair with another woman is very openly shown (and no, its not a porn film). There hasn't been a word from the Sena. My Brother Nikhil ran for six weeks in Bombay with no protests. Other films like the ones I've mentioned, Rules: Pyar Ka Superhit Formula and Page 3 have all had openly gay characters with no objections. There have been two queer film festivals in Bombay and both GB and Humsafar regularly show gay films at private events. Plays with gay themes have been presented in Mumbai like A Muggy Night In Mumbai and Chottiyasha Suttit (in Marathi, so the Sena couldn't pretend not to understand what was going on). At a larger level, GB has been in operation for seven years, having parties, film fests and other events. Humsafar has been in operation even longer and is quite high profile and in the news. We have had press conferences on queer issues and demonstrations, the last on August 16th. All this has happened with the knowledge of the Shiv Sena - so how is your statement that no presentation of 'gayism' is possible in Bombay justified? Yes, I'm aware that the Sena protested against Fire and Girlfriend, but the first was linked to the religious angle taken in the film and the second to the sleaziness the film was serving up (which queer people also objected to), and in both cases it was linked to a patriarchal attitude towards women. The protests were deplorable but looked at in the context of all the other stuff happening, they increasingly seem like aberrations rather than the norm. I am not, for a minute, arguing that the Sena has suddenly turned gay friendly. We are not likely to get any goodwill from them and yes, as gay stuff gets more high profile, we may well face problems. But it is just wrong to say that nothing is possible because of fear of the Sena. At some point one has to ask if you are saying this more to justify your fears, rather than what the community is facing. Pretending that the Sena is such a big threat is a useful way for people like you to refrain from dealing with their sexuality, rather than exploring it the way so many others in the city are doing. Even your parallel with Valentine's Day is faulty. Yes, many shops played it down this year because of Sena fears. But what was much more in the news was the Sena's confusion on this issue, between Raj Thackeray's and Saamna' endorsement of the event and Bal Thackeray's past statements. Many places and people went ahead with V-Day events including, as it happens, GB with its party at Karma. And the one event where the Sena did attack, at Nala Sopara, they have got so much flack they might think twice about doing it again. The kids who were attacked defiantly went ahead and had their party again. You might consider learning from them rather than from your fears about the Sena. Vikram Group Site: http://www.gaybombay.info ========================== This message was posted to the gay_bombay Yahoo! Group. Responses to messages (by clicking "Reply") will also be posted on the eGroup and sent to all members. If you'd like to respond privately to the author of any message then please compose and send a new email message to the author's email address. Post:- gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com Subscribe:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Digest Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] No Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Individual Mail Mode:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Contact Us:- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives are at http://www.mail-archive.com/gay_bombay%40yahoogroups.com/maillist.html Classifieds for personal advertisements are back on www.gaybombay.info site. Please exercise restraint in the language of your personal advertisement. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
