From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Indian Army has scuttled a movie proposed by Mumbai-based internationally acclaimed gay filmmaker Onir, on producing a film on the life of gay Army Major J. Suresh, who hit national headlines in 2020 after he quit the army and announced: “Out!! Proud!! Liberated!!”
It used a 2020 advisory to the filmmakers to seek prior clearance for any military-themed script, a decision criticised by the free speech campaigners as Orwellian and unconstitutional.
The issue was raised in Parliament last week, when Minister of State for Ajay Bhatt confirmed that Onir’s film had been refused permission because of “the portrayal of a romantic relationship between an army soldier serving in Kashmir and a local boy which casts (the) Indian army in poor light and raises security concerns.”
He insisted the pre-screening process was neither unconstitutional nor a denial of free speech, and said the government considered factors including national security, popular sentiment and the image of the armed forces to ensure the military “isn’t depicted in a manner which brings disrepute.”
Onir, who uses only one name, is a gay himself and he is among the first major Bollywood figures to openly acknowledge his sexuality. He is known for his movies on the lives of the socially marginalised groups.
His eyes caught a blog by the ex-Army officer, who had served in most turbulent regions including Kashmir. The blog read: “I am gay — and I am very proud that I am gay.” He later gave a ground-breaking interview on a private national television channel that went viral in the socially conservative country.
Omir’s script, “We are,” narrates four stories, those of a trans woman, a lesbian, a bisexual man and a fictitious account of love between a gay officer and a Kashmiri boy.
He says the movies where officers fall in love with women were never rejected. “Why is one’s sexuality being made the barometer for one’s patriotism or ability to defend the nation?” he asked.
“Everyone seems to get offended over the slightest things but what about the artists’ creativity or sentiments?” he said, adding that “we don’t matter.”
His application was rejected by the defence ministry when he approached for a “no objection certificate” — which most studios, streaming platforms and producers now insist on to ensure there are no legal or administrative hurdles.
He told a foreign news agency, AFP, that “they told me the fact that I have portrayed the Army man as gay is illegal.”
In 2018, the Supreme Court had decriminalised gay sex, but both homosexuality and adultery remain punishable offences under the Army Act, with jail terms of up to 10 years.
India also has a long history of post-production film censorship, clamping down further on freedom of expressions through the new social media regulations issued late last year.
Several of Onir’s films have addressed gay themes, including “My Brother… Nikhil”, the story of Indian swimming champion Dominic D’Souza who was arrested in the 1980s after testing HIV positive.
“I Am” combined four stories examining same-sex relationships and other taboo subjects such as sperm donation and child abuse. It was named the best Hindi film in the 2012 National Film Awards, the country’s equivalent of the Oscars, but even then satellite channels declined to telecast it.
In his own life, Onir said, “I have always been out. I have never had any one moment of coming out or crisis about who I am.”
Some of the most popular military-themed movies and web series in India in recent years have been nationalistic, all-guns-blazing stories of heroics by soldiers, including “Uri: The Surgical Strike”, inspired by a Modi-ordered 2016 operation into Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
Critics say giving the military control over how the military is portrayed is fundamentally inappropriate in a democratic country. “It’s problematic,” said Hartosh Singh Bal, political editor of Caravan magazine. “How can the army decide how it is depicted, seen or criticised by the people?”
“I can think of one democratic parallel where the military is allowed control over free speech: across the border, in Pakistan,” he added. “But no one in this government likes that comparison.”
