Chennai-based independent filmmaker Lokesh, who is currently working on a crowd-funded Hindi film titled My Son is Gay, says that taking a gay-themed film to the audience is a challenge because such films have niche audience.
“Since it’s a gay-themed film, I don’t think everybody would accept it. In places like Bombay and Bangalore there’s good response to LGBT – Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender film festivals vis-à-vis other places of the country,” Lokesh said
In a recent online poll conducted by Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, the most gay-friendly city in the country is Bombay with 73.4 percent votes, followed by Delhi and Bangalore with 10.7 percent 6.3 percent, respectively.
Chennai was voted the least gay-friendly city with 3.9 percent votes.
Is this why you decided to make the film in Hindi?
“It’s so tough to do a gay-themed film in Chennai or any social issues for that matter vis-à-vis other cities because Chennai is still conservative in so many ways which is not helping filmmakers. It is still close-minded. This is also one of the reasons why I didn’t make this film in Tamil,” he said.
Contrary to the notion only gay individuals make gay-themed films, Lokesh says he’s making the film to create a positive awareness about the LGBT community.
“You don’t have to be gay to do gay-themed films. It’s really weird when people ask questions about your sexuality when you do films on LGBT issues. I’m doing it to create a positive awareness for those who have no idea about LGBT community,” he said.
“You don’t have to be a girl to portray girl power in films, likewise you don’t have to be a gay to express their emotions on screen,” said Lokesh, who is all set to start the crowd-funding campaign for the film.
He has already completed shooting the first schedule.
“We have finished 25 percent of the film with the help of our main sponsor Anil Saxena and our styling sponsor Shahnaz Hussain Starlight Herbal Salon. We plan to kick start our crowd-funding campaign soon and from the funds we collect from it, we plan to complete rest of the film,” he added.
“My Son is Gay”, which revolves around an emotional relationship between a mother and her gay son, features southern actress Anupama Kumar and Mumbai-based actor-filmmaker Nakshatra Bagwe in the lead. Both of them are working free of cost.
“It’s a very touching journey of a mother who is unable to accept the fact that her son is gay. It’s a positive film about accepting people as they are,” he said.
Lokesh says it was due budget constraints that he decided to make “My Son is Gay” a crowd-funded project.
“Although a script like this could be made into a commercial film, but due to budget constraints we had to opt for crowd-funding. Since I’m an independent filmmaker, I also realized that we don’t have sufficient funds to market the film even if we make it on our own,” he said.
Do you feel audience will accept your film?
“My target audience will be the film festival crowd. Since I actively follow and attend film festivals, I realized this market is bigger than theatrical release, which I will only use as plan B. Even if my film manages to release in theatres, it will be only for niche audience,” he said.
“With so much of competition from other films week after week, how many days do you think my film will run in cinemas even if it gets released? So, we want to take it to as many big film festivals as possible and then see if we could find a distributor for theatrical release,” he added.
He is currently busy preparing the trailer for the crowd-funding campaign.
“We are editing a trailer from the 25 percent we shot so far for the campaign. I’m really thankful to Anupama, Nakshatra and Rekhs, who has agreed to subtitle my film free of cost. I would also thank my sponsors for supporting me with this film,” he added.
To support Lokesh in his project, you can write to him @ [email protected]
Film Page - facebook.com/MySonisGayTheMovie
