Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s recent remark on homosexuality has landed him in a controversy.
Speaking at JNU, while responding to a student, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said that being homosexual is a “tendency” that “may change” later. I’ve seen many men who were gay, later on turn into heterosexuals, and there are those who are normal — what are called straight people — end up being gay later in life.”
Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor, supported by Alia Bhatt, expressed her anger on Sri Sri’s comment on homosexuality.
Check out her tweets.
Homosexuality is not a ‘tendency’ it’s something you are born as and is absolutely NORMAL. To tell someone you can change is irresponsible.
— Sonam Kapoor (@sonamakapoor) November 14, 2017
WTF is wrong with god men, if you want to learn something about Hinduism and culture it’s better to follow @HindolSengupta & @devduttmyth
— Sonam Kapoor (@sonamakapoor) November 14, 2017
However, supporters of Sri Ravi Shankar were quick to point out that it was Sonam Kapoor who was ‘irresponsible’ for not being aware of Sri Sri’s general opinion on the subject.
Oh What The Fun .. You missed to comment when he said this earlier https://t.co/a0UJbhKfu0
"Homosexuality NOT a crime in hinduism"— Kamlesh Barwal (@KamleshBarwal) November 14, 2017
Will Bollywood Films Show Homosexuality Relationships After Supreme Court Ruling?
Supreme Court recently held homosexuality a criminal offence in India. So does that mean Bollywood filmmakers will shy away from depicting such relationships on the big screen?
Indian films have always shown gays as comical characters who are loud and indulge in funny, and at times, vulgar acts. However, there are some films that have depicted gay relationship on a more serious note.
Here are some of the Bollywood films that have depicted homosexuality on the big screen, in both serious as well as comical roles.
- Bombay Talkies (tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema and directed by Karan Johar) dealt with a love story of two male characters played by Randeep Hooda and Saquib Salem.
- In the film ‘Dostana’, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham pretend to be gay lovers so they could share an apartment with Priyanka Chopra.
- In ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’, Saif’s domestic help mistakenly thinks that Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan are gay lovers, portrayed in a fun way.
- ‘Dunno Y…Na Jaane Kyon’ was about the life of a gay model forced to compromise on his morals for his career.
The movie ‘Fashion’ & ‘Page 3’ (directed by Madhur Bhandarkar) gave glimpses of gay relationship. - ‘I Am’ and ‘My Brother Nikhil’ also touched upon this subject.
- Movie ‘Girlfriend’ had Eesha Koppikar and Amrita Arora playing lesbian lovers.
- Deepa Mehta’s ‘Fire’ shows the love story of two unhappily married sisters-in-law (played by Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das)
- In the movie ‘Partner’, Suresh Menon is shown as a gay (funny character) who says ‘Bas yahi apradh main har baar karta hoon, aadmi hoon aadmi se pyaar karta hoon’
Several Bollywood celebrities expressed their disappointment over the Supreme Court ruling on social media. Here are some of them.
“Freedom is such a deceptive term. Rights are an ambiguous mystery,” Anushka Sharma on Twitter.
“Its frightening how someone else decides how when and who you should love — basically freedom of choice isn’t legal anymore,” Shruti Haasan.
“Only a highly uninformed mind can have [the] arrogance of assuming that consenting adults having sex is any of their business” Anand Gandhi (Ship of Theseus) on Twitter.
“The Supreme Court got it wrong today,” Farhan Akhtar on Twitter.
Now with supreme court ruling homosexuality as a criminal offence, you may still continue to see gay characters that are loud, funny, vulgar, whereas films that try to touch on this subject on a serious note could be shelved for some time.
What do you guys think?
