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Bollywood's first mainstream female LGBT film, The Feeling of Meeting Girls, was released in India.
The release of Bollywood's first gay-themed mainstream film was both a further victory for the gay affirmative action movement in India last year and a small step in Bollywood's bravery.
The main creative lineup of the movie "The Feeling of Meeting Girls"
In this sensitive subject, the famous Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor plays a lesbian.
The film tells the story of the girl played by Sonam who refused to pursue all the boys who pursued her, only because she really liked the girl, and in order to pursue her true love, she finally bravely came out to her relatives and friends.
For the first time, the film presents the love of women in Bollywood pictures, which has attracted much attention from the outside world.
Sonam Kapoor stills 1-3
The film will be released in Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities where art galleries have previously shown independent films on LGBT themes to small audiences.
Despite its sensitive subject matter, "The Feeling of Meeting a Girl" apparently did not encounter the situation in which the cinema was destroyed by fanatical Hindu thugs when "Fire" was released in 1996, and the film was once boycotted by the society of the time for its homosexuality.
After more than 10 years of legal struggle, last September, the Indian government lifted the colonial ban on homosexuality, a move seen as a sign of Indian society's further towards tolerance and openness.
Shirley Chopra Dahl, director of "The Feeling of Meeting a Girl," said, "The next step is to change people's attitudes, no one wants to be preached." The telling and inheritance of folktales is an important part of our culture. At the moment, the film has fully entered our lives and assumed this role in some way. I didn't tell the audience what was right, but they could experience it through the characters in the movie. ”
Raja Sen, a film critic at the Hindustan Times, said that early mainstream films in India portrayed homosexuality as something radical.
In the movie "Fire" more than a decade ago, the heroines slept together in frustration because their husbands gave up sex.
In the 2012 film Heroine, the protagonist is "subservient to lesbianism, which is part of her moral corruption."
The Sons of the Kapoor Family
When producers looked for people with gay characters in the 2016 film Sons of the Kapoor Family, they were forced to look outside of India, ultimately opting for Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.
Raja Sen said: "He was very good, but he was able to get the role mainly because many mainstream Bollywood actors were worried that it would affect their image and turned it down. ”
Domestic audiences pay more attention to the movie "The Feeling of Meeting Girls" from the film actor Raj Kuma.
Coincidentally, he is also the male protagonist in "The Sons of the Kapoor Family" and another film about homosexuality, "Arigal".
In the biographical film "Arigal", based on a true story, the protagonist Professor Shelas was suspended from the university for a long time because of the exposure of same-sex sexual behavior, and was in the whirlpool of public opinion.
Compared with other Bollywood male stars, Raj Kuma's above character selection is very brave, and his inner world has long overcome the fear and resistance to LGBT themes.
This time, "The Feeling of Meeting a Girl" has the shell of a classic Bollywood love story, only it happens to happen between two women.
It was also the first collaboration between Hollywood crossover star Anil Kapoor and his daughter Sonnham Kapoor, which added to the film's box office appeal.
Group of four: from left to right: Anil Kapoor, Shirley Chopra Dahl, Sonam Kapoor, Raj Kuma
The movie "The Feeling of Meeting a Girl" is a trend in Bollywood movies that has broken taboos in recent years. The 2018 film The Wedding of Viedi has a small character as a lesbian, but the film is more controversial in India because it is the first time a plot showing women masturbating is shown on the silver screen.
From feminism to the legalization of homosexuality, everything used to be taboo in India. And taboos are being broken.
On the occasion of Women's Day, with this film that breaks the taboo theme as a gift, it is dedicated to every one of you who fight for women's rights, and I wish all female readers eternal youth.
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