Why a Bollywood memoir about being gay in India has kicked up a storm

Bollywood director and talk show host Karan Johar's autobiography has opened a loud debate on being gay in India, writes Sudha G Tilak.

“Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is. I don't need to scream it out. If I need to spell it out, I won't only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this. Which is why I Karan Johar will not say the three words that possibly everybody knows about me,” Johar says in the book.

The title of his memoir, An Unsuitable Boy, is a take on A Suitable Boy by award-winning Indian author Vikram Seth.

Seth has spoken up against India's draconian law that criminalises homosexuality and his mother, a former judge and writer, has written about Seth being gay.

In an interview Seth had said that it was a “sad dereliction of their responsibility” when famous Indians refused to come out and be “role models” for many others who were suffering silently.

However, Johar's memoir, co authored with journalist Poonam Saxena, does not.

Bollywood's budding filmmakers, activists and Twitterati have come down on him saying how he has only trivialised being gay in his films, and holding back from coming out and leaving bold clues belittle their suffering.

To answer those who demand that he come out, Johar writes, “The reason I don't say it out aloud is simply that I don't want to be dealing with the FIRs [police complaints]. I'm very sorry. I have a job, I have a commitment to my company, to my people who work for me; there are over a hundred people that I'm answerable to.”

“I'm not going to sit in the courts because of ridiculous, completely bigoted individuals who have no education, no intelligence, who go into some kind of rapture for publicity.”

According to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a 155-year-old colonial-era law, a same-sex relationship is an “unnatural offence”. Last February, the Supreme Court agreed to revisit a previous judgment that upheld the law.

'Cowardly'

In deeply conservative India, homosexuality is a taboo and many people still regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate.

However, Johar has been criticised by many and trolled on Twitter for not using his privilege and popularity to set an example for gays in India.

One of them is Apurva Asrani, a scriptwriter and editor of Aligarh, a gay rights Bollywood film based on true incidents.

Asrani went on social media to criticise Johar's autobiography and his resistance to come out and said he was “appalled”. He called Johar's extract on his sexuality “regressive and a cowardly statement”.

Johar's book also details his lonely childhood, his growing up in a plush neighbourhood in Mumbai with children of the film industry where his father was a producer, and his weight issues.

The book also talks about Johar's well-known friendship with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and his spats with Bollywood's leading ladies.

Johar's films have been set in locations in America or Britain dealing with romantic issues of the rich and the beautiful.

His films have been criticised for stereotyping women as in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and peddling fluff.

They have often poked fun of gay characters and have used innuendos and jokes while referencing gays in his films.

'Courageous'

His production house may have backed many meaningful films that have spoken about gay issues with sensitivity, but his own storytelling in his movies and memoir has been lacking, say critics.

Johar's TV show is hugely popular and is filled with Bollywood's beautiful people discussing their crushes, courting controversies and fuelling gossip and adult jokes.

Johar also allows gay jokes, uses self-mocking throwaway lines about his sexuality and innuendo, which has irked critics for trivialising his sexuality and for not standing up.

But he has also been praised for his openness. “His book is remarkably candid and courageous. He has shared his vulnerabilities and fears,” writer and publisher Shobhaa De said of Johar.

Johar, one of the cleverest and most influential Bollywood directors, isn't giving the pleasure of saying what everyone knows, gay rights or not withstanding.