Kashish - Mumbai International Queer Film Festival

KASHISH- Mumbai International Queer Film Festival being held between April 22^nd to April 25^th, 2010 in Mumbai promises to be four days of non-stop queer celebration across many platforms of artistic expressions.

Apart from over 80 Indian and International films, the festival has a range of allied activities - exhibitions, book launches, Q&A with filmmakers, panel discussions and of course parties! The festival expects to draw a huge audience from queer as well as non-queer community during its events spread across multiple venues in Mumbai.

Kashish - Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is being organized by Solaris Pictures and Bombay Dost.

About Solaris Pictures: Solaris Pictures is the only Indian film production company that has consistently been making films on queer themes. Its award-winning films like ‘Gulabi Aaina’, ‘Yours Emotionally’ and ‘68 Pages’, all dealing with gay and transgender stories, has pushed the boundaries in queer portrayals in Indian films. (www.solarispictures.com)

About Bombay Dost: Bombay Dost, India’s first registered LGBT magazine, is a standard bearer for the growing confidence and artistic alacrity displayed by India’s LGBT community. Bombay Dost also organizes free fortnightly film screenings known as ‘Sunday High’ as well as other events like book readings and community discussions. (www.bombaydost.co.in)

Kashish - Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is partly supported by UNDP, UNAIDS and Movies That Matter (an initiative of Amnesty International)

Kashish – Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2010

Centre for Excellence & Research (CEFE)

Ground floor, Riviera, 15th Road,

Santacruz (W), Mumbai - 400 054, INDIA

email: kashishmqff@gmail.com

website: www.mumbaiqueerfest.com

blog: www.mqff2010.blogspot.com

twitter: www.twitter.com/kashish2010

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Kashish.MIQFF

Views on Another Subcontinent

Yours Emotionally
Another subcontinent forum
Jul 3 2006, 07:29 AM

I had the occassion to see Yours Emotionally, a gay-themed movie directed by Sridhar Rangayan at MIT this past Friday.

As I understood it from the Q&A with the director after the movie, such movies are rare in India. This one explored the 'gay-scene' in small town India [in Gujarat and in Karnataka (Shimoga)].The director has worked actively on LGBT issues and felt that he should make a movie to express the dilemmas faced by people with differing sexualities -- and so undertook this project. So far he has screened it in a very limited fashion in India before he came away to screen it in NY, SF and most recently in Boston. He is returning to India to further his efforts in promoting it.

Not really knowing what to expect, even whether the movie would be a ham-handed effort in tackling an obviously complex theme, I was pleasantly surprised by the narrative...and even by the acting. The people behind the movie have managed to use a fairly plausible and even engaging storyline to get their point across...

ananda
This post has been edited by ananda: Jul 3 2006, 06:46 PM
http://www.anothersubcontinent.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5346&view=getlastpost

verbose said...

I saw the movie recently in SF, where it was part of Frameline, the long-running gay and lesbian film festival that coincides with Pride. I didn't know what to expect either, particularly as the title struck me as being rather sappy. I found parts of the movie confusing, and couldn't quite follow the narrative comfortably because of the strange visual effects, abrupt switches from color to b/w and back, and jumpy editing. But I liked the movie nonetheless.

In the Q&A that followed the screening, Sridhar Rangayan was asked about the visual effects. He explained that he wanted the movie to take place in the protagonist's mindspace, and had chosen the visual effects appropriately. That made sense when he said it, but I'm not sure it worked cinematically. However, I'm not a very sophisticated viewer of cinema. No doubt someone who sees non-mainstream movies more regularly would have a different reaction.

I also had the opportunity to spend about an hour in a tete-a-tete with Sridhar (about a week before I saw the movie), and ran into him a couple of times after. He's a really nice, warm, and funny guy, and he's been doing some great work with the Hamsafar Trust. So I'm glad I liked the movie--I'd've felt bad if the movie had turned out to be a dud.

Not so sure about the acting; the gora in particular struck me as being somewhat unnatural. The older couple were terrific.

I bought a copy of Sridhar's earlier movie, Gulabi Aaina, off him. Haven't watched it yet, though. Apparently the movie has run into trouble with the censors in India. Sridhar was talking about it. He says he intends to fight a legal battle to fight the refusal of a censor certificate. The censor board says that the movie doesn't treat its theme of crossdressing "seriously." Sridhar says that what this means is that the crossdressers are shown enjoying themselves, which is unacceptable, apparently.

YE inspires 5th Tasveer ISAFF's queer focus !

Excerpt from Shahana Dattagupta's article Personal is Political : South Asian Lens on Vibrant Love

When asked about this year’s theme and its relevance, one of the festival’s directors Farah Nousheen said, “The theme actually started out with a queer film focus, a very important genre in independent South Asian film. Last year, we had screened the experimental queer feature film Yours Emotionally by Sridhar Rangayan from India. There were several people who were confused by it or didn't like it. For me, this was a sign that our audience is not familiar enough with this genre or subject matter to understand and discuss this complex film … Our solution was to make the queer film genre the ISAFF theme....

... Most of the films being presented in ISAFF this year revolve around the politics of struggling love: Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Queer (LGBTQ) issues, cross-cultural love, arranged marriage and work being done in the HIV positive / AIDS arena. Titles of the films selected include A Jihad for Love, Before the Rains, Every Good Marriage Begins with Tears, Donkey in Lahore, The World Unseen, 68 Pages, Kissing Cousins, Kagbeni, and Milind Soman Made Me Gay. But ISAFF is not simply about screening films. It is about creating a safe, yet courageous space for all types of people to come together to talk about the emergent South Asian lens on love, sex, racism, queerness, marriage … what incredibly rich and complex feelings shall be revealed through this process … ?

http://isaff-tasveer.blogspot.com/2008/08/personal-is-political-south-asian-lens.html

Viewers reactions

Postings on Another Subcontinent

 

I had the occassion to see Yours Emotionally, a gay-themed movie directed by Sridhar Rangayan at MIT this past Friday.

As I understood it from the Q&A with the director after the movie, such movies are rare in India. This one explored the 'gay-scene' in small town India [in Gujarat and in Karnataka (Shimoga)].The director has worked actively on LGBT issues and felt that he should make a movie to express the dilemmas faced by people with differing sexualities -- and so undertook this project. So far he has screened it in a very limited fashion in India before he came away to screen it in NY, SF and most recently in Boston. He is returning to India to further his efforts in promoting it.

Not really knowing what to expect, even whether the movie would be a ham-handed effort in tackling an obviously complex theme, I was pleasantly surprised by the narrative...and even by the acting. The people behind the movie have managed to use a fairly plausible and even engaging storyline to get their point across...

This post has been edited by ananda: Jul 3 2006, 06:46 PM

----------------------------------

 saw the movie recently in SF, where it was part of Frameline, the long-running gay and lesbian film festival that coincides with Pride. I didn't know what to expect either, particularly as the title struck me as being rather sappy. I found parts of the movie confusing, and couldn't quite follow the narrative comfortably because of the strange visual effects, abrupt switches from color to b/w and back, and jumpy editing. But I liked the movie nonetheless. 

In the Q&A that followed the screening, Sridhar Rangayan was asked about the visual effects. He explained that he wanted the movie to take place in the protagonist's mindspace, and had chosen the visual effects appropriately. That made sense when he said it, but I'm not sure it worked cinematically. However, I'm not a very sophisticated viewer of cinema. No doubt someone who sees non-mainstream movies more regularly would have a different reaction. 

I also had the opportunity to spend about an hour in a tete-a-tete with Sridhar (about a week before I saw the movie), and ran into him a couple of times after. He's a really nice, warm, and funny guy, and he's been doing some great work with the Hamsafar Trust. So I'm glad I liked the movie--I'd've felt bad if the movie had turned out to be a dud.

Not so sure about the acting; the gora in particular struck me as being somewhat unnatural. The older couple were terrific.

I bought a copy of Sridhar's earlier movie, Gulabi Aaina, off him. Haven't watched it yet, though. Apparently the movie has run into trouble with the censors in India. Sridhar was talking about it. He says he intends to fight a legal battle to fight the refusal of a censor certificate. The censor board says that the movie doesn't treat its theme of crossdressing "seriously." Sridhar says that what this means is that the crossdressers are shown enjoying themselves, which is unacceptable, apparently. 

Posted by  verbose on July 8, 2006 at 5.52 am

YE on Green Cine

Synopsis
Sridhar Rangayan's flamboyant Bollywood drama Yours Emotionally concerns Ravi, a homosexual Indian expatriate residing in England, who carts his friend Paul along with him to a gay party in an Indian village. Once there, Ravi finds himself beginning to fall love with Mani, another guest at the event, and decides to stay in the area a few days to pursue this courtship. But the persistent interference of Paul - who desires an intense sexual affair with Mani - threatens to undo everything. Ravi is counseled in his pursuit by Murthy and Anna, two gay male proprietors of the hotel where he's staying. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

YE on Green Cine : http://www.greencine.com/webCatalog?id=209865&element=yours+emotionally

YE on Netflix

Yours Emotionally!. When Ravi (Premjit) travels back to his native India on a vacation with his friend Paul (Jack Lamport), he falls in love with the handsome Mani (Prateek Gandhi). In the comfort of India's gay subculture, their romance blossoms, but societal pressures have pushed Mani deep into the closet, and the lovers find their relationship at a crossroads. Sridhar Rangayan directs this love story co-starring Ikhlaq Khan and Ajai Rohilla. Rent the movie, Yours Emotionally!.

Link to Netflix : http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Yours_Emotionally/70064307

Review by Nicholas Sheffo

Yours Emotionally (Water Bearer)
Review by Nicholas Sheffo at www.fulvuedrive-in.com

For all the wealth, modernism and outsourcing of business to India they have going on, the homophobia by society and law is outrageous and makes them seem like an old dictatorship. Writer/director Sirdhar Rangayan takes a look at this goofy situation in Yours Emotionally (2005), a film actually made and released in the U.K. since that is where Gay men from India go to see a better world of possibilities.

It is ironic that Gandhi had to die to get the Brits out of India, only for their gays to have to go there for more freedom, but that is what has happened.... Either way, India has already shown their homophobia and ignorance to Deepa Mehta for her Elements Trilogy (see Earth, Water and Fire separately on this site), so this will hopefully tick off the same idiots those films did.

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 is a first for Water Bearer, usually letterboxing their widescreen releases. This may not have increased the detail much for this taped production, but it does make color richer and there are monochromatic lighting choices here and there that are interesting. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple stereo at best and is noticeably location sound. Extras include the trailer and a making of documentary Yellow & Blue.

Comments and Feedback on YE site

May God bless those who have made this movie. - Name Withheld (India)

I liked the Film..and the stroryline. All in all it’s a great effort. - RM (San Francisco)

I was really impressed with your skills of film making. I thought the camera work and the colours used were so wonderful and at times intoxicating. I felt swept along by the sheer beauty of it all. It really captured India to me with all its diverse life styles and colours and I really felt how drab the old home town looked in comparison! It was daring, inventive, surprising, moving and exhilarating. - Russell

Please Bring such films forwards Specially with the topic that Gayism Exists in India from ancient times. so that hipocrits can understand and accept the fact. - Name Withheld (India)

I felt going through many emotional strands: I was touched, entertained, happy, confused, misplaced, and sincerely laughing about the vicissitudes of the characters and their lives and self-discoveries. it is the India that I know and you have captured her spirit. - Stephano

We think the film challenges many stereotypes both Indian Gay and British too. Some of the cinematography was very, very good with many of the dream type sequences innovative and captivating. It’s also very touching at the end... We enjoyed watching ‘Yours Emotionally!’ - Bryan & Brent (London)

Yours Emotionally is a hard hitting and dark representation of the present face of Indian homosexual community. It is commendable that Sridhar & Niranjan bring to fore a harsh face of the community that many of us may not be willing to accept. It is stylistic in narration with a mix of real and surreal scenes that are blend beautifully together. - - Vivek Anand, CEO Humsafar Trust (India)

The film has very well portrayed different gay identities and how they interact with each other. The fact that this film was shot in quite a few public place in Rajpipla with quite daring scenes goes to show that no eyebrows were raised during the shooting of the film. Homosexuality though considered as a social stigma in India, but in smaller towns gays don't feel shy in practicing it even after being forced into marriage to a girl. They will continue to lead a "double role" in their life. In quite a few marriages, the female partner knows that her husband is gay, but still she won't mind if her husband sleeps with another man, but will mind if he sleeps with another woman. This is has been found out in one of the studies undertaken by Lakshya specially in rural Gujarat. - Manvendra Singh, CEO Lakshya Trust (India)

it has so much passion and heart...and has some really sexy scenes with such an attractive cast. Sridhar: you're a very good director, getting great performances out of the actors, and putting the camera in very nice strategic positions. - Paul Lee (Toronto)

First I want to thank you for being a filmmaker and for having the passion to make films that address and deal with storylines/subject matter which are pertinent to an LGBT audience. - Name Withheld (USA)

its a gr8 concept u came up with... so glad somebody came up with the topic... I stay in FL, USA. am a student here. I\'d like 2 know how i could get 2 see the film... - Name Withheld

I would like to know how I can see this film in Bangalore - Praveen (Bangalore)

The story line and locales are great feels great when people outside india worry about indian gay issues. more are expected from the QueerNRI s - shoemakerlevi (hamburg)

Film is good and i appreciate the Director and its efforts and hope they will keep it up.... - SURAJ (CHANDIGARH)

Film is good and i appreciate the Director's efforts, hope they will keep it up.... - SURAJ (CHANDIGARH)

good - sri (kum)

how can we see the film in hyd . - aravind (hyd , india)

can we see more of the india gay and films - armaan (ajmer)

It's about time someone took this step. Let the Indian audience wake up to the truth... Bravo! Definitely one giant leap for India cinema. There will be plenty of opposition, doubtless, but this film must be out. Here's to a poineering movie. May it come out as eye-opener... - Prasanna

i never seen this movie.....but i think so this good movie evergoing to be for gays i think so.i love this movie.i want to see soon this movie. - niki (hongkong)

Can you arrange for the indian audience to see the picture?? i think this will revolutionize the way people think about peoples willingness to experiment with some thing new. - Jeet (Indian)

Nice to see movies like this keep comming up... Its a definite gud move to bring the darkness to light.. Hope movie is kewl and attract audiance and ideas... - Ashwin (CHennai)

I am very unlucky as I did not have a chance to act in your movie. Anyway great work to express about gay emotions and hardship we undergo in our strict cultural settings. - Jey (Canada)

I have a post up on my blog with my take of the film (http://queerindia.blogspot.com/2006/01/yours-emotionally-ii-my-take.html). It's also cross-posted on Desicritics.org at http://desicritics.org/2006/01/30/010510.php. - Nitin Karani (Mumbai (Bombay))

think its a good movie...lemme wait and see - abhishek joshi (bangalore)

nice - ram (trivandrum)

i like the story,its a nice thought & i want to see this movie. - mickey desai (gujarat)

I cvould not watch the trailer, but read the background literature provided on this website. I am very keen to watch this movie but do not know how! Can you please help. I would like to compliment the members of the moview crew who made such an important issue visible. Congratulations! - Ashish (Roorkee)

A very interesting film and great photography !! - Rich (USA)

hope to see the film .can any one tell me where the screening will be done - addi (orissa)

Wow!!! I can't wait to see the film but I already love the story and the trailer... Please PleasePlease let me know where I can find a DVD of this film ? - anita (NJ,USA)

Cool! Where can I see it? - Shakti (Auckland)

Cool :) Where can I see it? - Shakti (New Zealand)

Gr8 work again guys like always, cant wait to see this one. - haresh bharwani (Brighton UK)

could v do with less sex please... the concepts were wonderful, actors like premjit, anna were wonderful, but in the end i just came home and shagged...im sure thats not all that you wanted from the movie shridhar! hope u dont mind my frank critics... im from the same feild dear and could relate to your views and vision in ur capacity as the director... I hope u take this critisism in your stride... hopw u dont hold this against me... - rajiv (mumbai)

Hey that was a really cool film... ya a bit bold, but it was all so sensitively handled. I loved the elderly couple's love and bitching... so much like any other relationships. Keep up the good work folks and hope to see more interesting films from such pioneers :-) Salute' - Pranay

Wondering where I may purchase a DVD of this movie? - Dr. Shah (Boston)

i saw it @ nyc premier, LOVED the film, when is it coming out on DVD? i just chk'd NetFlex, they dont have u listing :(( - s.a.o (nyc)

i am very emotional in friendship i like friendship - ram kumar (india)

What a film! - x (Mumbai)

Hey just heard the film is screening at British Council, Mumbai on Nov 1. That's gr8. Can't wait to see it. Also wonder how conservative Indian audiences will react. - Nirmal (Mumbai)

I'm teaching a new course called "Asian Homosexualities in Film and Literature" at the University of Massachusetts Amherst next semester. I would very much like to see this film to determine if it might be good for my students. Can you help me? - Stephen Miller (South Deerfield, MA)

i like the film . also i like the characters in this film .the movie was so,nice. - sandip (kolkata)

this film shows different views of diffeerent people in this 21st century for certain part of our society. i appriciate the director for the film. - Monty (Gujrarat india)

i just watched trailer. its cool. thanks for featuring us. is there any chance it to be screened in india - sumith (kerala)

its nice to read about this film, but i dont have any idea how i can see this movie. - Ketan (Mumbai)

Comments on Yours Emotionally by Manavendra Gohil

Comments on Yours Emotionally by Manavendra Gohil, the first out gay prince, in whose palace the film was shot -

The location of the film shown as Shimoga is a rural town in India. The story revolves round a British Asian Gay, Ravi visiting this town and falling in love with one of its residents, Mani. The story also has a middle aged gay couple which interferes in this relationship. We assume that Shimoga being a small place the mentality of the townfolk is such that they are ignorant about gay relations. But, actually it is not so.

The film is actually shot in a place called Rajpipla in Gujarat which is a very happening place as regards homosexuality is considered and it also happens to be the headquarters of Gujarat State's first Gay Organisation (i.e. Lakshya Trust). The fact that this film was shot in quite a few public place with quite daring scenes goes to show that no eyebrows were raised during the shooting of the film.

Homosexuality though considered as a social stigma in India, but in smaller towns gays don't feel shy in practicing it even after being forced into marriage to a girl. They will continue to lead a "double role" in their life. Mani knows that he ultimately has to marry a girl but does not feel sorry about it. His other gay friends have also undergone the same process. In quite a few marriages, the female partner knows that her husband is gay, but still she won't mind if her husband sleeps with another man, but will mind if he sleeps with another woman. This has been found out in one of the studies undertaken by Lakshya specially in rural Gujarat.

But this kind of behaviour is found to be strange, especially for a person like Ravi. The film shows the local people of Shimoga talking about the gay couple, Murthi and Anna. They perhaps know about their relationship, but will not openly discuss it. The film has very well portrayed different gay identities and how they interact with each other. However, the racial discrimination shown in the dialogue between Ravi and Paul could have been avoided.

Yours Emotionally pulls no punches

All over the world DVD
Published 07/05/2007
by David Alexander Nahmod

If you want to stretch your Pride party into the summer, these DVDs might be a good start.

Yours, Emotionally (Water Bearer Films, 2005)

Sirdhar Rangayan's charming, daring film from India offers a fascinating look inside that country's emerging gay culture. Yours, Emotionally pulls no punches. It's the tale of gay best buds Ravi and Paul (single-named Premjit and Jack Lamport) traveling across the exotic land of the Taj Mahal. The film does not shy away from soft-core depictions of man-on-man sexuality. Because of this, it has yet to receive approval from India's rigid censor board. Fortunately for us, such restrictions do not exist in the USA.

Ravi, a second-generation Sikh, and Paul, an Englishman, live in London, where both are out and proud. In Ravi's ancestral homeland, they find a gay community far more open than they expected, as well as a community still held at bay by the country's antiquated views on sexuality.

Soon after their arrival, Ravi meets and falls in love with handsome, shy Mani (Prateek Ghandi). Their love is at first sight and mutual. But Mani is committed to an arranged marriage from which he cannot back out. Their love is doomed.

Paul, meanwhile, is a horny dude who discovers that same-sex encounters are easy to find in India. As Ravi's heart breaks, Paul is having the time of his life.

The pair spend some time at a B&B run by Murthy and Anna (Ikhlaq Khan, Ajay Rohilla), a middle-aged gay couple. As they get to know each other, all four men have life-altering epiphanies. The "boys" learn the true meaning of love from their older counterparts, who in turn learn the meaning of gay pride from the young ones. Lifelong friendships are formed.

Yours, Emotionally is beautifully shot, hypnotic in its use of light, shadow, and color to convey moods. Ravi and Paul come to India on a sexual journey, but their vacation becomes a spiritual awakening.

Water Bearer Films offer Yours Emotionally letterboxed. The film's trailer and cast/director interviews are included.

YE on New York Times

DVD sale sites

An intoxicating queer journey through India”

Two best friends, Ravi and Paul, go on vacation to India where they attend an all night, eye-opening gay sex party. Surprised by the openness of their hosts and the aggressiveness of the guests, the boys fall into the steadily growing Indian gay culture. Ravi is especially bitten hard as he falls for the good looking but deeply closeted Mani. Will caste, economics and customs allow these two love birds a happy ending or will the forces of tradition and homophobia keep them apart?

Fueled by flirting, erotic performances and open sex, “Yours Emotionally” is a revealing film about the growing Indian gay community. The camera lingers over the hot bodies of Indian men and never shirks from giving gay men a sexuality seldom seen from this part of the world. Sridhar Rangayan uses both traditional and experimental film techniques to build a story of love, compassion and truth in a society that is only now beginning to accept gay people for who they are.

Unrated/United Kingdom/2005/86 mins./color

DVD Special Features:
Theatrical Trailer
“Yellow and Blue” a making for documentary

Some of the online sites from where you could order DVDs of the film:
Amazon

TLA Videos

Amazon Canada

CD Universe

Facets Multimedia

Movies Unlimited

Trailer of the film

Trailer on Waterbearer Films site:

Murphy's Movie Reviews

The Indian film industry is just beginning to play catch up when it
comes to dealing with controversial issues. Last year, I saw
MY BROTHER NIKHIL, one of the first features to tackle AIDS.
Director Sridhar Rangayan created a stir with his short film about
drag queens GULABI AAINA (THE PINK MIRROR) in 2003. He has
now tackled homosexuality head on in his debut feature film,
YOURS, EMOTIONALLY!

The plot centers on a pair of chums from Leicester, England,
Paul (Jack Lamport) and Ravi (Premjit) who visit a small town in
India on the invitation of Ravi's Internet pal Jeh (Ashwin Shelar).
Arriving in Shimoga, the English lads attend a gay party where
Ravi meets Mani (Prateek Gandhi) and instantly falls in love.
Of course, complications ensue. Ravi and Paul decide to remain
in India for a few extra days and end up staying at a hotel run by
an older gay couple, Murthy (Ikhlaq Khan) and Anna (Ajay Rohilla).
After Paul has a brief encounter with Mani in a park frequented by
men cruising one another, the two friends have a falling out.
Ravi is determined to convince Mani to accompany him back to
Great Britain, but Mani remains hesitant.

YOURS EMOTIONALLY! is essentially a film that focuses on
love in the context of cultural differences. As much as Ravi is of
Indian descent, he doesn't fully understand the conditions in the
country. The movie does show that in spite of all the odds, same sex
relationships are possible (as exemplified by Murthy and Anna) but
it also demonstrates the prejudice and fears that are still present.
Rangayan uses some surreal touches and includes several dream
sequences that add a touch of the exotic to the project.

The film, which had its World Premier at NewFest, proved to be
an audience pleaser. It was preceded by the short BEING BAD, directed
by Laurence Coriat.

Trailer on YouTube

Check out trailers on YouTube

Yours Emotionally!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKyT57nXx2U





The Pink Mirror (Gulabi Aaina)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEWPwrAjgpY

Review on Amazon - A Queer Journey Through India

March 4, 2007

A Queer Journey Through India

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

Ravi and Paul are two best friends who go on vacation to India. They find themselves at an all night gay sex party which surprises them. They were not aware that India could be so open and that the natives could be so aggressive and they quickly find themselves in the midst of Indian gay culture. India has always been a place we have known little about in terms of homosexuality and it is surprising to see it here on film, uncensored and laid bare. This is an eye opening look into it as the movie goes deep into the subculture of a society that frowns upon gay life. Many of the things that we take for granted here in America pose a great challenge to the gay men of India. "Yours Emotionally" gives a clear and concise picture of gay Indian life with great emotion and honesty.

What the film does is "explore cultural differences and similarities" between an Asian from Britain and a guy from rural India. As it shows us the gay life, it does so vividly and with great passion. As the movie progresses it also crosses generations and we are shown the younger generation as well as what goes on in the lives of men in their fifties. It is interesting to see this as it is so missing in the canon of gay American cinema.

The cinematography is absolutely exquisite and it creates just the right mood for the film. The camera techniques use many of aspects of new wave cinema. The film is groundbreaking as it explores the naked truth of gay Indian life. What is lacking in the film is characterization. All we know about the characters is that they are "hot to trot". Everyone seemed to want to have sex with everyone else and the sex seemed to be added on for the purpose of titillate (not that it isn't fun to watch). We had no insight into the nature of relationships and the inter-relationships seem very shallow. Everyone is into everyone else without the slightest idea of why.

With that said, I must also say that the beauty of the movie so overshadows everything else that the above is minor; The editing is very interesting as people just seem to disappear. And the colors used give a surreal atmosphere to the film.

The fact that the plot is shallow is made up for by the fact that the men are hot and the film is beautiful to watch. Additionally you get a look at a gay subculture that we know very little about.

Screening and Fundraising in Los Angeles

YOURS EMOTIONALLY! SCREENING and FUNDRAISING EVENT

DIVA, Satrang and API-Equality LA cordially invites you for a Special Screening and Fundraising event for our friends at Satrang.

YOURS EMOTIONALLY! An unusual drama of love and spicy passion and a tribute to gay men who negotiate their same-sex love identities amidst social, religious and cultural boundaries.

Q&A to follow after the screening.WEDNESDAY JANUARY 24, 20078 to 10 pm RENBERG THEATER Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center- The VillageTickets: $10RSVP: 323.860.7311

The Telegraph - Kolkata

Jack Lamport's Column in The Telegraph, Kolkata

(pls click on image to read an enlarged version)

Stardust, India

YE British Counil screening News - Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times, Mumbai

(please click on image to see full-size view)