Indian gay film faces censors as star’s family disowns him
Dunno Y… Na Jaane Kyun, an Indian gay romance compared by critics to Brokeback Mountain, risks being censored by the Indian authorities over gay sex scenes. Meanwhile, the father of star Yuvraaj Parasher has told a newspaper that he is to fight in court to disown all ties to his son because of his role in the film.
The film, directed by Sanjay Sharma, faces censors because of two gay kisses and a gay sex scene between stars Kapil Sharma and Yuvraaj Parasher and features the two kissing and gay sex scenes. However, because of its homosexual content the film is facing censorship from the Indian film board. Kapil Sharma said: “Why should the censors be scandalised if two men are kissing and making love?
“The ones in my film are very aesthetic. And so what if it’s two men making love? Love is love regardless of gender.”
Meanwhile, the Bombay Times reports that that Yuvraaj Parasher, has been disowned by his family and thrown of of the family home in Agra because of his role in the film. His father Satish Parasher told the newspaper: “I feel what he has done is against the culture and tradition of our country and it challenges the purity of the relationship between a man and a woman. He kept us in the dark right from when he signed the film and told us that he is acting with a girl. When we heard about the poster and the things he has done in the film, we were shocked, hurt and humiliated. People will make fun of us and we won’t be able to live peacefully ever again.”
He added that “his mother is totally devastated. We are a respected family and I’m appalled that he is playing a gay man’s role. We’re finished. All the dreams and hopes we had built around him are over. For just a film role, he has lost out on his blood ties. We don’t want to see his face ever… not even when we are dying.” The family claim that no woman will consider marrying him after playing a gay man on-screen.
Bollywood has rarely mentioned homosexuality in the past and even heterosexual kisses are still unusual.
But since the Indian capital Delhi legalised homosexuality last year, homosexuality is very slowly becoming more accepted in culture.
A recent film, Dostana, showed two men pretending to be gay in order to win over a female love interest, but Dunno Y . . . Na Jaane Kyun is the first big release to tackle the issue of homosexuality seriously.
