Source: Times of India, Times of India, Screen Weekly via Bollywood Bungama, Bollywood Newz, Miami Herald
Abhishek Bachchan (left) and John Abraham pretend to be a gay couple in Dostana. Above: John Abraham celebrates a new Bollywood openness to beefcake in his yellow trunks.
Although its plot is derided as superficial and stereotypical, one of two recent Bollywood movies with gay (or apparently gay) characters is welcomed by queer activists in India as something of a breakthrough.
Activist and journalist Ashok Row Kavi said of filmmaker Karan Johar's Dostana, "I am glad, for the first time in Indian popular cinema, gays were not turned into caricatures and made fun of."
[see movie trailer and video for "Shut Up and Bounce" at end of post]
Gay rights activist Vinay Chandran calls the movie's portrayals of two men pretending to be gay "stereotypical", but commends the movie for one thing: "The reviews in mainstream media are so casual about the fact that the lead actors pretend to be gay. We haven't seen that before."
In an extended interview with Times of India, Kavi said the film might actually help change public perceptions about gay people.
Activists applaud jokey fake-gay Bollywood movie; Audiences applaud beefcake [contd.]
"What the film has done is to bring to notice gays as a concept in Indian family," he said. "In the film, this is brought out by the role played by the mother of Abhishek Bachchan (played by Kirron Kher). She is a crucial factor who is made to come to terms with the idea that her son may have turned gay. It is very interesting. The song like Maa Ka Ladla Bigar Gaya shows in what way it is going away from concept of a heterosexual family. Hence, the heterosexual family has been engaged in dealing with the issue of gays."
Kavi said he's been fascinated to watch the film in Delhi surrounded by "middle-aged matrons" who seem to accept the relatively unique concept of two men developing a deep friendship.
"You see, the concept of gays in our country has a western identity," he explained. "In India, gays still end up getting married to members of the opposite sex because they do not want to come out openly about their sexuality."
Kavi was far less happy with the portrayal of gay characters in another recently-released movie: "Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion has demonized and made fun of gays and lesbians. It’s not put in the (right) context it should be," he said.
Bollywood director Mahesh Dattani, who wasn't involved in the movie, told Times of India that Dostana will help in the current campaign to overturn an Indian law that declares homosexuality illegal.
"This will add to the cause," Dattani predicted. "The idea will enter people's heads that there is such a community, no matter how simplistic the image of who a homosexual is. At least they’re not imagined as freaks with two horns and a tail."
Dostana offers a Bollywood twist on a Hollywood staple: It portrays a straight man (or two, in this case) pretending to be gay. It is, in other words a trick as old as Three's Company and as new as Chuck and Larry.
Dattani isn't surprised that the film doesn't explore its "gay" characters, but just uses them as a plot point. "It took a while even for Hollywood to come out with movies like Philadelphia and Brokeback Mountain," he notes.
"In any case, the biggest Bollywood stereotype is the portrayal of men and women.
"Earlier, women were seen as sobbing, self-sacrificing characters and now they’re oomphy arm candy wearing the latest fashions. Bollywood makes a stereotype out of everything: mothers, fathers, children, Sindhis, Bengalis.... So, you can't expect a sensitive portrayal of gays," he adds.
One thing the film has also done is brought an explosion of beefcake to Indian cinema screens. Designers Aki Narula and Manish Malhotra worked the fashion for the film to give Abraham and Bachchan an appropriately gay look for their scenes -- and part of that involved giving former model John Abraham often abbreviated clothing.
"John is a fashion photographer in the film and for the first time in Indian cinema a mainstream actor has worn shorts throughout the film," Narula explained to Screen Weekly. "While working he's in cargo shorts, at home in boxer shorts and in check shorts otherwise. And when he comes out of the water wearing those famous yellow swimming trunks. I picked up yellow as a contrast to Miami colours - blue ocean, white sand and green palms."
Filmmaker Karan Johar has no apologies for the frank sex-appeal of his movie. "No mainstream actor should run away from being sexy," he says. "It's as important for a man to look sexy as it is for a woman. Every superstar has had a high sex appeal - be it Mr. Bachchan, SRK or Hrithik. One must look desirable to be desirable."
Bollywood Newz reports that the industry is responding to women who want male skin in the movies.
Beefcake is in demand, says Abhay Deol, a relative newcomer in the industry.
Hitting the gym was the first item on Hrithik Roshan's "to-do" list when he set his eyes on entering filmdom. He managed his first hit without having to show his six-packs but when he had to revive his sagging fortunes it was an open shirt and extremely-low waist jeans that helped, according to Bollywood Newz.
Abhishek was named a gay icon a couple of years ago and is sure to cement the status with the Dostana role that allows him to work his brooding sexiness to the hilt in the film.
But the movie's portrayal of Miami, where it was filmed, is something celebrated by tour operators there, according to Miami Herald.
The Greater Miami tourism bureau sponsored a screening of Dostana last weekend for about 80 travel agents, tour operators, and travel writers.
Dostana's opening scene explains why. Four of India's biggest movie stars vamp for the camera with Miami's skyline and South Florida beaches as backdrops.
''It really is one big postcard -- it's a powerful postcard,'' Rolando Aedo, the bureau's marketing chief, said of Dostana, the first ''Bollywood'' movie shot entirely in South Florida.
That distinction, along with the Bollywood star power attached to the movie, has tourism officials hoping real-life Indians will follow their silver-screen idols to Miami.
Known as the ''Bollywood effect,'' Indian movies set on location have been credited with spikes in vacationers from one of the world's fastest-growing economies.
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Source: Good to be gay? | Times of India
Fashion has demonised gays and lesbians: Ashok Row Kavi | Times of India
Creating the right look for Dostana | Bollywood Hungama (Screen Weekly)
Bollywood high on male skin show | Bollywood Newz
Bollywood movie seen as a ‘powerful postcard' for Miami | Miami Herald