CALL FOR ACTION (from Lgbt India)


(PLease cross post this to all the relevent lists)

This is a plea for direct mobilisation. This morning I learnt that the distributors for Amol Palekar's latest film, The Quest, have withdrawn after they agreed to release the film. But they suddenly withdrew after the preview revealed it as an openly gay film.

This is the third in the triology of films on sexuality that Amol Palekar has planned. Amol had given a sneak-preview but requested me not to talk or write about it till matters started moving. However, this morning, I learnt that the
all-India distributors had withdrawn because it was "so brazenly gay" despite assurances that they would be taking up the movie for all-India release.

The promos had made it abundantly clear that the subject was about a gay man caught in a dilemma; it showed two men kissing and in bed together. Unlike films made before, there has been no playing around with gender or soft-peddling the issue as both men are shown to be masculine. In a way the film is a slap in the face of a heteronormative-looking masculinity and also makes a point where the married gay man is given no quarter by his wife who learns about her husband's homosexuality.

Though i would have liked to review the film for this list but time is short and I sincerely feel it is time for direct action.

Amol is facing direct in-your-face homophobia with the whole film industry suddenly giving him the cold shoulder. This is shameful especially when we were expecting things to ease off in Bollywood.

The Humsafar Trust wishes to make this a test case for direct action and invites the community to come for a matinee premier of 'The Quest' to show solidarity with Amol Palekar and show up Indian hypocrisy for all its worth.

The direct action day is planned for September 29. So please mark the calender. Community mobilisation is the only way we can face this kind of homophobia.

Sincerely

Ashok Row Kavi
Humsafar Trust
Mumbai Metro