Thursday, January 28, 2010

Bollywood Finally Goes There

As I have mentioned a number of times previously, I have a significant number of Hindu clients of either Indian descent or who were themselves born in India. As clients go, they are wonderful: loyal, responsive and pretty prompt payers. While I do not flaunt my sexual orientation, neither do I hide it in my professional life. As such my clients may or may not know I'm gay, but the critical element to these clients is respect, responsiveness and competence in delivering legal services. Some I suspect have gay family members, although it's an issue we have never discussed since professionalism and propriety are always important and I cannot help but wonder what some of them will think of Bollywood's venture into a gay theme movie. As AfterElton notes, the upcoming May release of Dunno Y . . . Na Jaane Kyun, is already being called Bollywood's answer to Brokeback Mountain. Obviously, gays exist in all cultures and perhaps this new movie will help push the culture in the direction of tolerance and acceptance. Here are some highlights:
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Bollywood puts out more films than any other movie location in the world, but they've never put out an explicitly gay film. In 2008 they released Dostana, in which the lead pretends to be gay to get the girl, but that's about it for major releases. But that's about to change in May with the release of Dunno Y . . . Na Jaane Kyun, already being called their answer to Brokeback Mountain.

India is still waiting for a final ruling decriminalizing gay sex nationwide, but art is moving the ball forward with a film starring a relative newcomer Kapil Sharma, but directed by powerhouse director Amil Sharma, best known for macho action films.
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The first posters were released this week, and they're steamy to say the least. We'll be watching developments as the May release approaches.
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I hope the movie does well and that it perhaps prompts people to rethink some of their religious and cultural based prejudices.

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