[Reader-list] Fwd: From Fire into the furnace, review of film 'Girlfriend'

[shivam]

I agreewith much of what Ms Tejal Shah writes in the
Mid Day review, but I don't understand why she has a
problem with Girlfriend's character becoming a lesbian
because of child sexual abuse. Isn't that possible?

I have found that while homosexuality is a very
important issue in intellectual circles, I wonder why
this disdain and indifference towards child sexual
abuse. There's a book called "Bitter Chocolate: Child
Sexual Abuse in India" by Pinki Virani in which she
writes that homosexuals sometimes abuse children with
the purpose of making them homosexuals.

Regards,
Shivam


 --- Sappho for Equality <sappho1999 at rediffmail.com>
wrote: >  
> 
> 
> Note: Forwarded message attached
> 
> -- Orignal Message --
> 
> From: TS <ts at vsnl.net>
> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
> Subject: From Fire into the furnace, review of film
> 'Girlfriend'
> 
> 
> 
> 

> ATTACHMENT part 2 message/rfc822 
> From: TS <ts at vsnl.net>
> Subject: From Fire into the furnace, review of film
> 'Girlfriend'
> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
> 
> Dear Friends,
> Some of us were unfortunate enough to be present at
> the preview screening of film 'Girlfriend' in Bombay
> on Thursday, 10th June. 
> Today, the film has been released nationwide. It is
> the worst possible film that has ever been made in
> the history of cinema about a 'Lesbian'. 
> In a country like India where lesbian women exist on
> the invisible margins, as criminals without any
> rights, doubly oppressed as women and lesbian, not
> to mention the layers added by class, caste,
> religion and ability, a film like 'Girlfriend' is a
> severe blow to the advancement of the human rights
> and sexuality rights of all women. We must do
> something in the face of such callousness. 
>  
> Please do write critical articles and reviews about
> the film, hold press conferences, protest rallies,
> distribute parchas or anything to 'damage control'.
> I have written a small piece below and I urge you to
> please circulate this email as widely as possible. 
> In solidarity,
> tejal
>  
>  
> >From Fire into the furnace
> Dear Mr. Karan Razdan (director of Girlfriend), 
> If the Shiv Sena and the Bajrang Dal go on a rampage
> yet again, to protest your film 'Girlfriend', ask
> for the film to be banned or sent back to the censor
> board, I might even forgive you.
> 
> But I know, that six years after Deepa Mehta's film
> 'Fire' was released, the right wing will see no
> reason to protest your film because your portrayal
> of a lesbian as 'a psychopath, sexually abused, man
> hating, murderer and killer' fits just fine into
> their hetero-patriarchal agenda of portraying
> lesbians & gays as freaks, abnormal and as people
> who must die at the end of the film, so they are
> aptly punished for their unnatural existence.
> 
> On the out set, it must be stated that the 'Lesbian'
> issue is a hot topic; it attracts audiences, creates
> a curiosity and definitely impacts the box office
> collections. I mean, if you are telling me that you
> made this film because you care so much about
> lesbians and the issues affecting them, that you
> wanted to bring this issue into every Indian
> household, surely you mean it as a devastatingly,
> nasty joke!
> 
> Your film is a presentation of the worst possible
> misnomers (I consciously refrain from using the word
> 'stereotype') about anyone who may be attracted to a
> person of the same gender. The male, macho but
> normal (read heterosexual) hero has no qualms about
> playing a hyper-exaggerated, sissy, gay man when he
> needs to seduce the simple minded, generous at
> heart, 'one-night' lesbian, but essentially, a
> reformed, heterosexual girl played by Amrita Arora.
> The straight heroine who is being continuously
> misled by the lesbian villain must be saved by the
> good-boy-hero. In the end, values of heterosexual
> love, marriage and 'normal' families must be upheld.
> The character of Tanya, acted by Isha Koppikar is
> nothing short of a 'lesbian animal' aided as it is
> by the background score to help us see her as a
> wild, almost cannibalistic man-eating/man-hating
> woman who dares to behave like a man, a Sahela (a
> mere saheli would be far too sensitive). All this is
> of course explained by the simple fact that Tanya
> was sexually abused as a child simultaneously
> implying that what makes women 'this way' is
> possibly, abuse at the hands of men! 
> 
> After watching a film like this, it is impossible
> for anyone to think of 'women who love women' as
> normal human beings with two hands and two feet, who
> may be a friend, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a
> neighbour, a grand mother and least of all a caring
> lover. 
> 
> It must be pointed out that under the section 377 of
> the Indian Penal Code, gay, lesbian, bisexual and
> transgender people are looked upon as/considered
> criminals, existing against the order of nature.
> Hey! and if you thought it was just about 'those
> guys & their lifestyles', let me remind you that
> anytime you have non peno-viginal penetrative sex,
> you are as much of a criminal and can be put in the
> prison for a term extending to 10 years & shall also
> be liable to fine.
> 
> Mr. Razdan, the next time you say that you are
> taking a neutral position in this film and
> portraying the case of just one lesbian, let me
> remind you precisely, that the fiction you are
> choosing is a cleverly developed and thought out
> storyline that carries a clear message. This message
> is a dangerous and retrogressive one. It is a
> message that endangers the life of any woman who may
> look or behave boyish, any woman who chooses to
> experiment with her sexuality, and any woman who
> asserts her right to different choices including
> those women who are good friends and hold hands when
> they walk down the street. 
> 
> Welcome to the world of blatant hate crimes based on
> your sexual and gender orientation! 
> 
> As men or women, homosexual or heterosexual, films
> like these take us many steps backwards. More than
> two decades of work done by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
> and Transgender groups, feminists groups, human
> rights groups, women's groups and progressive
> artists groups, is going to suffer as this film is
> commercially released in every part of India from
> small towns to big cities. 
> 
> Every time I hear of another lesbian suicide,
> another girl who hanged herself for being teased
> about her 'best' friend, another hijra woman raped
> in police custody, another woman sent for shock
> treatment and aversion therapy to cure her of her
> homosexuality, another couple put under house arrest
> by their parents when they find out about their
> same-sex love, I will think of this film and I will
> be reminded of the power that Bollywood wields in
> creating a mass consciousness. In this case, it will
> be a conscious, articulated, homophobia. 
> 
> Thank-you very much Mr. Razdan, but we, as
> progressive citizens are not interested in
> lip-service. I can assure you of one thing: the
> homosexual community in this country would much
> rather live in quiet anonymity than be
> mis-represented in such a ghastly, contorted
> fashion.  Even a little bit of research on your part
> would have revealed that there are at least three
> active lesbian and bisexual women's groups in Bombay
> city alone and hundreds of 'women who love women'
> leading their lives openly and happily but that's
> only possible when one makes a film on a hot issue
> (like lesbianism is in India) when you foresee
> beyond profits and publicity and see, real lives and
> real people who will live the consequences of your
> doing. 
> 
> It's time that we stopped separating the issues that
> films address and their impact on the audience
> within a given socio-political context. It is also
> high time that we stand in protest against any film
> that causes damage to the rights of any minority
> groups.
> 
> Tejal Shah 
> 
> (The writer is a visual artist and the co-founder,
> organiser and curator of Larzish.tremors of a
> revolution, International Film festival of Sexuality
> & Gender Plurality, India since 2003)
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> > _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and
> the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to
> reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe in the
> subject header.
> List archive:
<https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> 

=====
ZEST Reading Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-india/

ZEST Economics: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-economics/

ZEST Poets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zest-poets/

________________________________________________________________________
Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner online. http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony/