Originally posted by: diasingh2
Yes it was.
Homophobia under the guise of comedy was the norm in Bollywood for ages but this film normalized to another level, as it was the first ever mainstream BW film on homosexuality in its main plot.
I totally understand that this was a fun film and not supposed to be a social documentary on this topic, BUT in a country where situation was already bad for LGBT community, this film was not needed in 2008 at the peak of LGBT protests/debates. It certianly did not help the community AT ALL.
Yes, the film did incite "living room conversations" on this topic. (Something that KJo likes to take credit for.
) Except hose conversations were not really about the 'acceptance'
, because people only had half-baked knowledge on this topic.
The film was pretty harmless by itself, but Indian audience wasn't 'aware enough' to understand the underlying sarcasm. Their takeaways from this film were the homophobic jokes, stereotypes and "Ma Da Laadla Bigad Hua" song.
The word "Dostana" also lost its meaning forever, and even in 2022, I hear people using this word to label or describe gay lesbian friendships/relationships.
I remember in 2008, my female friends started joking whenever we hugged. "377 hatne ka faayda mat uthaiyo!"
(Delhi HC had decriminalized homosexuality)
And I guess it was even worse with the boys.. My cousin (he is gay) told me in 2018 (when homosexuality was finally decriminalized by SC) that he was badly bullied around this film came out in his school.
He used to get trolled earlier also for not being traditionally masculine, but after this film people started singing "Maa Ka Laadla" every-time he walked in to class. And they started making fun of him more and more. I was shocked when he told me that even teachers did not mind having those jokes too.🤪
Again I'm repeating myself.
This film was not the root cause. But aag mein ghee daala is film ne. And I will never forget that.😵
So your saying the film did more harm than good ?
Cricket
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