It was a day for the girls. At PVR Juhu, there were two special film packages for women in love with women and a retrospective of lesbian filmmaker Pratibha Parmar.
Films in the `Love stories for girls' and `Girls Talk' packages were all about the first kiss from the girlfriend, blind dates and caring but bitchy lovers. "The intention was to make it a sort of community outing so that a whole group of girl friends could come to the theatre together to meet, watch the films and talk," said festival director Sridhar Rangayan. The highlights of the day were `The Other War' - a tale from Israel about three women caught in the middle of a war, 'U-Haul: The Music Video' and 'Jodie: An icon'. The T in LGBT was represented through two poignant movies, 'The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquella' and 'Unraveling Michelle', a journey through the male to female transition of a filmmaker. In the afternoon, Onir, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, Mahesh Dattani, Meenakshi Shedde and Ashok Row Kavi came together for a discussion on role of the media and celebrity in advocacy, moderated by Parmesh Shahani. The discussion began with a brief flashback into queer representation in Indian cinema in recent years. Mahesh said that being at Kashish has brought home the fact that 12 years after writing the play 'A Muggy Night in Mumbai' on a gay theme, it's good to know that one is not alone on the subject of gay love, that there are other writers using this theme. Meenakshi Shedde, who was asked about 'Dostana' said that the movie was intelligent in the way the many layers of queer issues were represented in a movie that reached the mass market, hence the film is precious in its own way. However, she praised 'Sancharam' for being a bold film that gave such dignity to same-sex love, in contrast to 'Dostana'. She also said that the upcoming 'Just Another Love Story' is also very sophisticated and brings out a nuanced discussion on alternate sexuality. Ashok Row Kavi said that the last 15 years of the LGBT movement have been marked by fear and anxiety connected to Section 377. Carrying over from the panel discussion on cinema and censorship the previous day at the Alliance Francaise venue of Kashish, he said that why should only Karan Johar be allowed to make money on a Dostana -- why are film festivals like Kashish barred by the government from charging their delegates? We must have sustainable models for festivals in India. Manav revealed that while being an out gay man and belonging to a royal family at the same time has brought him much love and respect abroad, he feels a great sense of responsibility from both these identities and he has had to keep a balance between the two. Manav said that he can't help it if he was born into a royal family but he would prefer being known as an activist. He tells other gay royals who are unwilling to come out to at least support the LGBT community in other ways. Onir revealed how 'My Brother Nikhil' was his first film so it was important to position it. He had to 'cheat' the mainstream audience into watching his HIV-themed film by not highlighting the fact that a gay couple was at the centre of the film. After the theatrical release, the film went to gay festivals and events everywhere. Five years after that film, he finds himself more confident as a filmmaker and has a film 'I AM' with the 'I AM OMAR' story highlighting police harassment of and social discrimination against gay men. Incidentally, the trailer of 'I AM' was premiered at the Kashish opening ceremony on Thursday. Parmesh raised various questions related to celeb culture and the commoditization of culture including identities like 'queer'. Why are there not enough celebrities supporting the queer cause? Why are there very few queer celebrities? Ashok Row Kavi said that four of Bollywood's biggest directors are gay but closeted. They better be ashamed. At least I have Onir on my side. He added that we must not completely depend on celebrities; what's needed is a mass movement that walks on the feet of activists. Onir said it is important to have the right kind of celebrities endorsing queer issues, people who really believe in what they are saying. For example, we should not have an actor doing a pretend-gay role. Meenaskshi said there was no way of avoiding celeb culture but one way of taking advantage of it is to sensitize the intelligent celebrities about queer issues. Another way is for the queer community to take a stand on the other large issues that concern society which will open up our connections with it. The discussion was punctuated with a lot of humor thanks to Ashok Row Kavi and Manav. Kashish started distributing among its delegates complimentary copies of a booklet of extracts from a new shorty story collection called 'Quarantine' by debutant Rahul Mehta, thanks to publisher Random House. For all the news on Kashish, please check out http://www.facebook.com/BombayDost or search for the #mqff10 hashtag on twitter -- Kashish Newsdesk
