Indian director wants new film to raise debate about homosexuality

[varun]

India's sodomy law is being reviewed by its Supreme Court, and it may be repealed in the near future...

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid36372.asp

Well-known Indian actor-turned-director Amol Palekar says his new film Quest focuses on a taboo topic in India: homosexuality. Palekar's film opens with a wife learning her husband is in a gay relationship, he told the Mumbai Mirror newspaper in an interview published Monday.

Palekar said he wanted to raise the issue to force India to confront it. "We have the tendency of not talking about issues like homosexuality openly. We tend to brush it under the carpet," Palekar said. "My way of dealing with things is to face them up front."

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the hub of India's vibrant movie industry, called Bollywood. Bollywood movies are often sprinkled with jokes poking fun and ridiculing the gay community. Homosexuality remains taboo among most of India's billion-plus population and is a crime under law that dates to British colonial rule.

Health authorities recently called for a repeal of the 145-year-old law that makes gay sex a crime. While prosecutions are rare under the law, it specifies that consensual sex between adults of the same sex is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in jail...

[triakis36]

1. That's awesome

I hope things change for the better from this movie.

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. Interesting prepositional phrase:

>>>Homosexuality remains taboo among most of India's billion-plus population and is a crime under law that dates to British colonial rule.>>>>

"under law that dates to British colonial rule."

I wonder what the atmosphere was like prior to colonization.

[jonolover]

3. It was never really openly accepted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_India

Just a reference article, hope it helps a little.

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. *Yogurt*?! Bleaaaahhhhhhllkkkk!

>>>>And: "If a man has shed his semen in non-human females, in a man, in a menstruating woman, in something other than a vagina, or in water, he should carry out the 'Painful Heating' vow." This meant he would have to drink a mixture of "cow's urine, cow dung, milk, yogurt, melted butter, water infused with sacrificial grass, and a fast of one night".>>>>>>

- Wikipedia