After starting this whole GRAB thing I have to admit I rather forgot about it, but luckily we have dedicated people on this list - they have to be dedicated to see something like Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - who have reported a sighting. First Alp Viram and now AK sends me this mail conforming the sighting, as follows:
----------------------- Here's a GRAB confirmation from Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - Preity Zinta's colleague in the movie- is a gay character who lusts after Bobby Deol. This character comes in the movie for say like 5-10 mins and is out of sight/mind before you know it - from what I remember! The director has made no qualms about it and does not overdo it or potray it with any negative connotation - which was good. Cheers, AK ----------------------- So that sounds pretty good. What about last week? Was there anyone who managed to sit through Mehra Pehla Pehla Pyar. It sounded so daft I didn't expect anything, but MidDay today had a very nice muscle pic of Ruslaan Mumtaas that made me rather wish it did. (Khalid Mohammed in his review had one of his usual sneering vaguely sexual digs about Mumtaas being a boy despite his surname and not to get any ideas... as so often with Begum Khalida, as Ashok calls him, you get the sense of some really personal reason for discomfort with sexuality). Anything else? That Emraan film about a train? I would love something to be there in Shivaji, but given the macho obsessions of Tamil culture I doubt it would be there or doubt it would be positive if was there. And talking of negative stereotypes, there was an item in Mumbai Mirror I think about Bollywood Homophobe #1 Madhur Bhandarkar's new film Fashion which almost seems to have been chosen so he could do his usual "aren't-these-gay-guys-untrustworthy-sex obsessed-pervents" line. It quoted him saying a major theme would be a war between two gay designers over a male model apparently "based on real life". Lets hope there are lots of supportive GRABs before Fashion hits the screens. Vikram PS: If you're wondering what all this GRAB stuff is, here's the mail I wrote which started it: About Gay Reference Audit for Bollywood (GRAB) Did anyone see Good Boy, Bad Boy? I know Tussshar Kapoor was a draw, but the reviews of this film were so horrenduous - even the actors seemed to be pissed off at it - that I wouldn't be surprised if not a single gay boy went to see it. Which might be a pity only because of this visual: http://www.indiafm.com/movies/mstills/12733/still18052.html I just saw this still reproduced in a paper and couldn't believe it. Is Emraan Hashmi really standing at the head of a students' rally with a big sign below him saying "Being Gay Is No..." Actually I don't know what the sign says because its been cropped in the visual and I haven't seen the film, but it does sound like its going to be something positive like "No Crime". Can anyone who has seen the film - or anyone brave enough to go and see it now - fill us in on what the sign says? OK, I know that even if it is positive, it doesn't mean that Emraan really believed in this big time (I can't remember even a single comment he's ever made on gays) and the chances are the producers just threw it in because they think it sounded cool and radical and eye catching and at this point in the film they were probably desperate to try anything. All the other signs around are about different things, so its hardly a gay rights rally. Still, its the first gay rights sign I can ever remember seeing in a Bollywood film and if nothing else its proof of how (a) its now almost obligatory to have a gay reference in every new film and (b) the references aren't always positive, but there is a general sense that homosexuality is part of Indian society. We could argue about this - do you think its showing homosexuality as cool? Do you think its showing it as sensationalist and slightly depraved? But one way or the other gay references are getting out there and if such a fluff film like Good Boy Bad Boy can have a visual like this then perhaps its going to be a good thing. But the only problem is keeping track of all the references. Just to speak about recent releases: - Honeymoon Travels - two excellent gay subplots - El Chalis Ka Last Local - a gay don - Metro - gay subplot on Page3 lines - Raqueeb - Mayank Shekhar's review mentions one homophobic reference where the lead actor indignantly denies being gay And there's more in the pipeline, like a film called, I think, Kabhi Socha Nahi Tha which has a lesbian subplot. But as I said the problem is keeping track of it which is why I'm suggesting launching the Gay Reference Audit for Bollywood - GRAB, for short. Which simply means that anyone who goes and sees a new release will please note any gay references, no matter how silly, stereotyped or trivial, and post it on this list. Since there must be people here who see most new releases it shouldn't be hard. If the reference is particularly good, like in Honeymoon Travels, we could even organise a GB Goes to See the film (and perhaps the filmmakers might hear of that and start putting in good references.... OK, I'm dreaming here now). What do people think? Is it worth doing? Is it possible? And do we have any volunteers to be GRABbers? Vikram
