We had a screening of the movie 'Memories in March' today starring Rituparno Ghosh, Deepti Naval, Raima Sen. The movie shows the grief of the mother when she finds out that her son dies in a car accident. But the story takes a different angle after she finds out that her son was gay and had a secret lover (Rituparno Ghosh)
The movie was not very good. But i felt really sad when people in the auditorium were laughing every time a reference to the love between the son and Rituparno came. If students of an IIM laugh at this idea, how long will it take for Indians to accept this concept? It raises serious questions in my mind if the future managers will be able to be tolerant to the sexual orientation of their colleagues and not let this come in the way of their decision making process.
Why do we have a difficulty in accepting it and what is so funny about it? Do we make fun of physically disabled people? They were born in a different way and it was not their fault. This is not different from the case of a gay man/woman. It is how the person is from within. So what is the harm in professing that love to a person of the same sex? It is wrong to ostracize them and treat them as mental people. The movie deals with this idea in a deft manner when Rituparno asks the mother - "What is more difficult for you to accept? Is it that your son is dead and you will never see him again or that he was gay?" The mother feels betrayed when she finds out that her son did not reveal it to her, but the sole reason for the son to hide his identity was his fear of acceptance from the society.
It is a change that Indians should come to terms with soon. And we can only start by bringing the change from within.
