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Lost in translation Gay Gay Indian film weighed down by lumbering narrative By <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> GREG MARZULLO Friday, May 18, 2007 Ah, the lure of India. Saturated colors, pungent spices, an exotic culture, the holy pilgrimage to the Ganges - and cruising a gay sex park that makes a bathhouse seem downright Victorian. At least that's the picture painted in "Yours Emotionally," a film about a gay British Indian's visit to the motherland. British-born Ravi (played by Premjit) is heading off to India with his best friend, a white man named Paul (an intolerable Jack Lamport), for a much-needed vacation. Upon arriving in one of the most culturally rich areas of the world, the two head straight for a gay sex party thrown by an older man named Murthy (Ikhlaq Khan) in an abandoned school. The host begins hitting on the young Ravi, but also formally introduces him to his lust object, Mani (Prateek Gandhi), whom Ravi inexplicably falls in love with and pursues throughout the duration of the movie. The hero whines his way through the story, desiring the beautiful Mani, but refusing to acknowledge that he was just a trick and doesn't return the out-of-towner's affections with the same intensity. Although this could suggest Ravi's ignorance of gay Indian culture, his inability to see what is so clear to the audience becomes tedious long before the film hits its wilting climax. The more interesting relationship is that of Murthy and his husband of 42 years, Anna (Ajai Rohilla), a member of India's highest class, the Brahmin. The pair has lived through tumultuous times, including Anna's long-ago marriage to a woman. The most touching scene comes at the film's end, when they finally have the opportunity to formally acknowledge their love in front of others. Without Ravi's iconoclastic, modernist influence, this might have never happened, and so the old ways of India mix with those of the continent's far-flung diaspora. WHILE ALL THAT sounds beautiful and moving, getting to those final moments is almost unbearable. The story, with its flip-flops and consistent murkiness masquerading as intrigue, lacks any moving narrative, because the protagonists are a complete drag. Aside from Ravi's incessant idiocy, Paul is the ever-tiresome foreigner - one who takes advantage of the constant stream of illicit sex yet twists his colonial face into masks of controlled disgust at local culinary delicacies. The script, written by Niranjan Kamatkar and director Sridhar Rangayan, would have been better served by creating a three-dimensional character that wasn't a shallow foil to Ravi's quest for enculturation. Mani is an odd bird, whose relationship with Ravi is never fully explained. The hookup is clear enough, but after Mani passes out his charms in a park, it seems as if Ravi is finally over his obsessions. With no further exposition, Ravi and Mani appear a few scenes later at a picnic with other local gays, and the two are in love again. One of the relationship's ongoing problems is the language barrier. Poor Mani can only eke out a pidgin English, and despite growing up with accented, Indian parents, Ravi strangely doesn't speak a lick of Hindi. The resulting misunderstandings and stammering attempts at communication quickly lose the cute factor and become another groan-inducing commonality that quickly wears out its welcome. What the film lacks in grace or even consistent storytelling it makes up for in visual appeal. The colors of the culture come through vibrantly in the native clothing, natural landscapes and the color washes used in the film. Fantasy and dream sequences are bathed in vibrant shades of turmeric, and moonlight coats the characters in a blue sheen of longing. Queer films exploring the intersection of world culture and sexuality are a rare find, but that doesn't mean that these movies, often shot with a limited budget, shouldn't be subjected to the rigorous standards of good filmmaking. While "Yours Emotionally" surely tells the story of an underserved population, it, sadly, doesn't do it well. gb <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay <http://groups.google.com/group/Gaybombay> http://groups.google.com/group/Gaybombay Website: <http://www.gaybombay.in/> www.gaybombay.in Email: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gay_bombay/post?postID=sF-1WE71anBidHS3GY1SYm 5klKs8kORvsCE-7rTALIhT1GR4Nb5d-rGFtKw58iwvfwc16QBg_UkFzxaeQ6q09Q> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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