ALIGARH - review

Aligarh – Review

Whenever the term homosexuality or gay comes up in our interactions and discussions there is a prejudiced attitude, thought stuck in our minds. I guess the immediate picture that many human beings see is the one of two men engaging in fellatio or sodomy. And because of this skewed picture and notion, the term gay and/or homosexuality has become a bad word, a taboo, a shameful abhorrent act. How come the term heterosexuality does not inspire the same thought? Why is it that the terms heterosexuality or straight does not immediately realize a graphic illustration of a man and a woman engaging in intimate sexual act ? I will not get into the descriptions because maybe I too am biased, not to spell out in words what exactly a man and a woman really do during the sexual intercourse, thanx to the preconditioning of our mindset by the society. When a child confesses to the parent about her/his same sex preferences, why does it draw disgust, angst and at the heart of it fear and worry from the parent? The answers to these questions have beautifully, yet poignantly been answered in Hansal Mehta’s ALIGARH, a film about a Marathi language professor being criminalized and demonized for having same sex preferences. The protagonist Professor Siras has, throughout the film, beautifully expressed his pain and anguish for describing his emotions of love in a three letter word. He asks in the film “ Why is the emotion of love that I feel been ridiculed and reduced to just the act of sex between two men?”  At the heart of it is indeed love between two human beings and since when did loving another person become criminal ?

The whole issue of same sex preferences has been abused, butchered and turned into garbage due to the obsession of the sexual act. Why are we so obsessed with the sexual act that two individuals engage in, in utmost privacy? Sex is the ultimate form of expression of love between two human beings who love each other. It is obvious that it is a very private affair and restricted between those two individuals only. Just as in the film, why is this privacy stamped over and splashed over the streets for everyone to examine and comment? IT IS NOBODY’S BUSINESS, what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their homes. The adults may or may not be of same sex, religion, caste, creed or any other form of diversity. Manoj Bajpai has done complete justice to the late professor Siras by expressing the emotions that professor must have experienced. The pain agony and gross exploitation of his privacy have been perfectly acted in the subtle expressions, quiet demeanor and shy personality. Reporter Deepu Sebastian’s jumpy and brave character has been done justice by Raj Kumar Yadav. The intimate scenes between a man and a woman and that between two men drawing parallels are the highlight of the film. The entire film has a slow, passive and subtle character to it, reflecting upon the protagonist. There is no drama, violence or loudness to the film. A brilliant effort to bring not just the issue into mainstream media but present it in a pure form of love between two individuals. I hope we don’t see gay mocking and jokes on alternate sexuality in cinema, just to please the audience and add a few more crores into the kitty.