Monday, September 27, 2010

Bollywood Actor Disowned by Parents for Playing Gay

The reports out of India last year of the decriminalization of homosexuality might lead you to believe that things have gotten better for LGBT Indians. No so fast. Just like here in the good ole USA, attitudes can't be legislated or changed by a court case.

The Times of India is reporting that popular Indian actor Yuvraaj Parasher, who recently starred in a film that's been called Bollywood's Brokeback Mountain, has been thrown out of his parents' home and disowned not for actually being gay, but for playing gay on screen.

TOI reports:

Worse, his father is ready to go to court and officially cut off ties with his son. Seen as India's answer to Ang Lee's sensitive drama Brokeback Mountain that boasts of remarkable acting from Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, Dunno Y ... Na Jaane Kyun sees Yuvraaj partner with actor Kapil Sharma to breathe life into their bold characters. Yuvraaj's father Satish Parasher told BT, "I feel what he has done is against the culture and tradition of our country and it challenges the purity of the relationship between a man and a woman. He kept us in the dark right from when he signed the film and told us that he is acting with a girl. When we heard about the poster and the things he has done in the film, we were shocked, hurt and humiliated. People will make fun of us and we won't be able to live peacefully ever again."

Satish believes Yuvraaj will never get a girl to marry him. "His mother is totally devastated," said the aggrieved father. "We are a respected family and I'm appalled that he is playing a gay man's role. We're finished. All the dreams and hopes we had built around him are over. For just a film role, he has lost out on his blood ties. We don't want to see his face ever... not even when we are dying." Interestingly, Yuvraaj's act with Kapil fetched them an award from Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal for their sensitive portrayal of gay men. For the actor's family, however, such accolades mean nothing.



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1 comment:

  1. Being thrown out by your parents...sound familar? It happens everywhere...well a whole lot of places still. Like many GLBT youth here in this country.. the decision and courage to be true to yourself is very difficult, yet there is no livable, productive and happy alternative. Truly, the families which deny their own blood are self absorbed,self exalted and unworthy to be called family anyways.

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