KOLKATA: From author Devdutt Pattanaik and film-maker Hansal Mehta to actress Nimisha Sajayan and actor Riddhi Sen, a large number of people from both within LGBTQIA community and outside have come out in support of Onir whose script on a gay soldier was not approved by MoD recently. While Mehta described the incident as “sad and regressive”, Pattanaik tweeted saying: “Gay Indian soldiers are not allowed to love. Kshatriyas are supposed to be brave, not puritanical”.
Sachin Ujjwal, the ADG strategic communication of IHQ of MoD (Army), wrote an email to the director on Wednesday stating that the “content of the script received via email dated 16 December 2021 has been analyzed in detail. It is regretted to inform that the script has not been cleared by IHQ of MoD (Army). Wishing you best of luck in all the future endeavours”. Calls to Ujjwal from TOI on this went unanswered till the time of going to the press.
Riddhi Sen, who won the National Award in 2017 for playing a transwoman in Kaushik Ganguly’s ‘Nagarkirtan’, described it as an extremely ‘unfortunate but not a surprising incident’. “The Central Board of Film Certification had got us to delete two beautiful same-sex love-making scenes from ‘Nagarkirtan’,” he said.
“Films these days about the army portray soldiers as superheroes. That image needs to be broken,” added Riddhi, who has acted in a film produced by Onir.
Documentary director Debalina, who made ‘Gay India Matrimony’ with Films Division in 2019, said that film-makers are being cornered from all sides now. “Every passing day the noose is just tightening around our neck. The rejection of Onir’s film is a sign of the times we live in. After my own documentary received critical acclaim, it was certified adult by CBFC. Once that happened, Films Division stopped sending it to any festival. We are hitting an all-time low now,” she said.
According to queer feminist activist Malobika, co-founder of queer feminist organization Sappho For Equality, “The Supreme Court in 2018 has partially read down IPC 377. Therefore, consensual sex between same-sex individuals is no longer crime. How does anyone's profession really matter? I have not read Onir’s script but from what I hear about the incident, I can say that rejecting it only exposes the hypocrisy of the system.”
Onir is “overwhelmed” by the support from LGBTQIA community. “There is outrage and hurt for something so unfair. I am touched by the support from within the industry too. Nimisha Sajayan of ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’ messaged saying ‘let’s fight this together’. But, at the same time, I am disappointed by the silence of the MoD,” said Onir.
