Showing posts with label Shakuntala Bharti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shakuntala Bharti. Show all posts
The city of Aligarh is homophobic-Hansal Mehta
7:42 AM
The city banning his film just proves his point, feels director Hansal Mehta
Subhash K Jha (DNA; March 1, 2016)
Hansal Mehta is livid over the unconstitutional ban on
his film Aligarh in the city that it is named after. Though there was
no formal announcement barring the film from being released in Aligarh,
the city’s mayor Shakuntala Bharti has been quoted as saying that the
film links the city of Aligarh with homosexuality and that according to
the mayor, is nothing short of defamation. Here’s what Hansal had to
say...
Your reaction to the ban on Aligarh?
The ban is most unexpected. It just proves what the film is saying: that Aligarh is a homophobic city. Also, if as reported, the ruling regime has anything to do with this unofficial ban, then it also shows them in very poor light.
Is this why you shot the film in Bareilly?
Just before we were to leave for a recce to Aligarh, we were threatened. We had hired a local guy in Aligarh to help us with the locations. News that we were supposed to shoot over there, got out through him. The night before we were supposed to drive from Delhi to Aligarh, my son Jai received a warning against shooting there.
You changed the location overnight?
Yes. Jai still wanted us to go to Aligarh. In fact, the entire team insisted we did. But I reminded them we were not making the film to win bravery awards. We were doing it because we wanted the world to know the story of this man named Prof Sreenivas Siras. We didn’t expect to fight unending battles with homophobic people.
Do you intend to fight this unconstitutional ban in Aligarh?
That isn’t the only battle I’ve had to fight. Some writ petitions have been filed against me in the Lucknow court. Apparently, the rickshawwallah who was allegedly found making love with Prof Siras and the reporter who entered Prof Siras’s house and found him making love, have filed a criminal case against me. But I am yet to be served any notice regarding this matter.
What is the rickshawallah’s grouse?
His grouse is that I am defaming him by showing him in a poor light in my film. That he is not a homosexual, and that he has five children and that apparently, Professor Siras forced him to have sex.
But that changes the entire subject of your film...
It changes nothing. It just shows how desperate some elements are to stop the film. This is our country. This is tolerant India.
19 years ago, Deepa Mehta’s Fire went through the same ordeal.
I am aware of that. The same elements who tried to stop Fire are still very active. Now when the fire is raging in Aligarh, the elements that tried to stop Deepa’s film are in power now. I wonder what they have against us Mehtas. (Laughs)
It’s only in Aligarh that you can’t see 'Aligarh'
7:59 AM
Cinemas Take Down Film As Mayor, Others Say Gay Tale Defames City
Eram Agha (THE TIMES OF INDIA; February 28, 2016)
The only place ‘Aligarh’,
the film on the tragic life of gay AMU professor Srinivas Ramchandra
Siras, will not open in is Aligarh. Movie-goers in Aligarh, who had
been waiting excitedly to see the Manoj Bajpayee-starrer that has received
heady acclaim both in India and abroad, were surprised when they realised on Friday that no theater was playing it though the film had hit
screens across the country that day. They, however, didn’t read much
into it, thinking their “tier-2 city” would get the biopic on Saturday
instead. That didn't happen either.
Curious and frustrated, some of them started making queries. One of the calls went to the film’s production team, led by director Hansal Mehta. No one had a clue why ‘Aligarh’ had not reached Aligarh. TOI on Saturday then got to know that the film had quietly been “banned” in the city after Shakuntala Bharti, the BJP mayor, mounted a protest against its screening. She felt the film would “link the city with homosexuality”, which would be nothing short of a “defamation” of sorts.
Bharti was unapologetic about her objection to the movie. “The film is based on same-sex love and that is not Aligarh,” she told TOI. “We can’t encourage defamation of a city.” Theater owners, however, said it was not just Bharti who had problems with the film. A local group, Millat Bedari Muhim Committee, had also written to Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad, and to Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) head Pahlaj Nihalani, demanding that the name of the film be changed as it “besmirches our city”.
The film’s director Mehta was livid. “This is a homophobic decision. They do not want Aligarh to be linked with homosexuality, but now they will be linked with homophobia,” he said. There had been apprehension from several quarters about the film ever since its shooting was announced. These included questions over how AMU would be represented, since the story is based on Siras' life. University PRO Rahat Abrar had earlier said he would take legal action against the filmmakers if required and that the university was concerned about “misrepresentation of the city or university“. He had also said that the university had not given the director permission to shoot the film, which was eventually shot in Bareilly. On being questioned about it, Abrar said he did not want to comment on the issue at present.
The scriptwriter of 'Aligarh', Apurva Asrani said he was “extremely angry“ about the development. “People in distribution normally do thorough research about where a film will be welcomed and where it won't. It is sad that Aligarh will not get to see a story about itself. The mayor spearheaded protests and that led to theatre owners deciding not to screen the film. They don't want to see the mirror held up to themselves. I have been told three court cases have been filed against us. This reeks of homophobia,“ he said. “Opponents of the film will have to come to terms with the fact that 2% of India's population is from the LGBT community.“
By a little quirk of fate, some Aligarh residents, though, did manage to see the film on the day of its release on February 26 at a prominent theatre in the city.
Curious and frustrated, some of them started making queries. One of the calls went to the film’s production team, led by director Hansal Mehta. No one had a clue why ‘Aligarh’ had not reached Aligarh. TOI on Saturday then got to know that the film had quietly been “banned” in the city after Shakuntala Bharti, the BJP mayor, mounted a protest against its screening. She felt the film would “link the city with homosexuality”, which would be nothing short of a “defamation” of sorts.
Bharti was unapologetic about her objection to the movie. “The film is based on same-sex love and that is not Aligarh,” she told TOI. “We can’t encourage defamation of a city.” Theater owners, however, said it was not just Bharti who had problems with the film. A local group, Millat Bedari Muhim Committee, had also written to Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad, and to Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) head Pahlaj Nihalani, demanding that the name of the film be changed as it “besmirches our city”.
The film’s director Mehta was livid. “This is a homophobic decision. They do not want Aligarh to be linked with homosexuality, but now they will be linked with homophobia,” he said. There had been apprehension from several quarters about the film ever since its shooting was announced. These included questions over how AMU would be represented, since the story is based on Siras' life. University PRO Rahat Abrar had earlier said he would take legal action against the filmmakers if required and that the university was concerned about “misrepresentation of the city or university“. He had also said that the university had not given the director permission to shoot the film, which was eventually shot in Bareilly. On being questioned about it, Abrar said he did not want to comment on the issue at present.
The scriptwriter of 'Aligarh', Apurva Asrani said he was “extremely angry“ about the development. “People in distribution normally do thorough research about where a film will be welcomed and where it won't. It is sad that Aligarh will not get to see a story about itself. The mayor spearheaded protests and that led to theatre owners deciding not to screen the film. They don't want to see the mirror held up to themselves. I have been told three court cases have been filed against us. This reeks of homophobia,“ he said. “Opponents of the film will have to come to terms with the fact that 2% of India's population is from the LGBT community.“
By a little quirk of fate, some Aligarh residents, though, did manage to see the film on the day of its release on February 26 at a prominent theatre in the city.
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