Bollywood's 100-year kiss sparks bate on gay films

Contents:

• BOLLYWOOD'S 100-YEAR KISS SPARKS BATE ON GAY FILMS
• LBIAN AND GAY KISSG SCEN BOLLYWOOD
• AFTER GAY KISS ‘BOMBAY TALKI’,LBIAN SMOOCH ‘GO GOA GONE’
• AFTER GAY KISS BOMBAY TALKI TO LBIAN SMOOCH GO GOA GONE, INDIAN CEMA HAS E TO AGE – AND SUDNLY
• AFTER GAY KISS BOMBAY TALKI, LBIAN SMOOCH GO GOA GONE

BOLLYWOOD'S 100-YEAR KISS SPARKS BATE ON GAY FILMS

Commentator Sandip Roy says one of the shorts is pretty revolutnary bee has a gay protagonist, and what is probably Bollywood's first gay kiss. In 100 years of Indian cema, we'd never seen anythg like this: a man-on-man gay kiss a Bollywood movie. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)ROY: Outsi a multiplex showg the film, Sayan Bhattacharya, an edor wh the Indian culture magaze Kdle, says he'd heard there might be a gay BHATTACHARYA: It was nice.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)ROY: And gay men, when they show up at all, are queeny stereotyp. Aap-ka-beta-gay-hai, he lik Sayan Bhattacharya says the gay characters are sad clich.

It's like a pet But the character "Bombay Talki" is a different kd of gay man - out, sexual and unapologetic, even wh his boss at the magaze where he's an tern. But as a iend says, "Bombay Talki" wh s own stereotyp - gay as stalker, self-stctive, hband-snatcher. And Sayan Bhattacharya, the magaze edor, is not readg too much to the big gay kiss.

LBIAN AND GAY KISSG SCEN BOLLYWOOD

BHATTACHARYA: I thk 's too early to thk of as a landmark, bee whether 's a landmark or not, you know, we will only know two years later if opens the floodgat of more A gay kiss wh s own six-mute song and wet chiffon shirts the Swiss Alps - now that would be a real Bollywood revolutn. A still of Ranep Hooda and Saqib Saleem om Bombay TalkiHighlightsNew Bollywood film Bombay Talki is billed as a tone not only for markg 100 years of Indian cema -- is also one of the untry's few mastream movi ever to have shown a gay kiss.

AFTER GAY KISS ‘BOMBAY TALKI’,LBIAN SMOOCH ‘GO GOA GONE’

While such scen the past may have eliced tlls India's populist sgle-screen theatr, this time the kiss has been wng applse om dienc, acrdg to gay rights advote N Karani. "That's a posive reactn, which may dite that society is more ready than film producers when to gay stori, " he said. The tal Bombay Talki have sparked bate over such issu Bollywood, where homosexualy has long been kept the closet -- or portrayed stereotypil rol.

"Mastream Hdi cema has portrayed gay characters as feme, over the top, obssed wh sex, and to be lghed at, " said director Onir, who only his first name.

AFTER GAY KISS BOMBAY TALKI TO LBIAN SMOOCH GO GOA GONE, INDIAN CEMA HAS E TO AGE – AND SUDNLY

"When they are not stereotyped like this, they are shown as boyiend stealers or home-breakers, " he said, potg out than even Bombay Talki shows "the gay boy htg on his bt iend's hband".

AFTER GAY KISS BOMBAY TALKI, LBIAN SMOOCH GO GOA GONE

Nikhil won acclaim for portrayg the story of a gay relatnship and the issue of HIV wh both matury and sensivy -- tras that rema nfed largely to the pennt and documentary fields. Organisers picked 132 films om 40 untri, cludg 18 om India, on lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) them, om about 300 entri.

Numbers for this year are not yet llated but last year saw about 1, 000 ftival-goers attendg, a third of whom were not LGBT themselv, said ftival director Sridhar Rangayan.