Samir gay
Being gay is as normal as entity straight: Samir Soni
"It was as straightforward as getting a phone call from Madhur Bhandarkar… and I knew if he would give me half a decent role I would agree immediately,” says actor Samir Soni.
The role embodied all the right nuances a ethics in a Madhur Bhandarkar film typifies, and Soni took up the oppose of portraying a gay character in Bhandarkar’s latest clip Fashion. Excerpts from a chat:
So why did you accept the role in Fashion?
I play a closet-gay fashion designer. It was a very challenging role to play. Madhur and I did a lot of study to sketch the character and his personality. But the greatest challenge was not to form him a stereotypical gay character, but subtly express his sexuality through his personality and his relationship with the other characters in the film.
What caring of research did you carry out?
I observed people. It was great amusing, observing certain homosexual designers in our own fashion fraternity. Being gay is as normal as being straight, but still people stare down upon the gay community. A person’s sexual orientation does not characterize the person, and that is what we have tried to focus on in this motion picture.
Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das kissed under the mosquito net in Deepa Mehta’s Flame. No one from mainstream cinema dared before or after to bring queer love openly out of the closet onto the screen. In fact Rekha who was the first decision for Fire said to me, “I’d happily touch Nandita Das a dozen times. But not THAT way.” And when Tom Hanks “dared” to play a gay HIV-positive in Philadelphia he refused to touch his screen-lover Antonio Banderas. Samir Soni(Raj Kumar Santoshi’s finding best- remembered as Madhuri Dixit’s caddish lover in Lajja and as Amitabh Bachchan’s ungrateful son in Baghban) is the first Indian actor to acquire played a gay nature in a mainstream Hindi film. And that isn’t all. Samir Soni in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion has actually done a passionate kissing scene with his screen lover played by a young theatre artiste named Anil Kumar. Madhur spotted Anil in a posh party-scene for Fashion and immediately offered him the role of Samir Soni’s significant other. Anil accepted without hesitation and had no problems with the intimate scen Samir recounts how commonplace it was for LGBTQI+ people to experience hostility and violence. He remembers one of his friends being attacked and severely beaten when it was found out he was gay. He was kicked out of his place by his family and forced to flee. However, he couldn’t report the crimes to the police, seek help or even medical assistance because of fear of the authorities. “Even if you become beaten up for creature gay”, Samir says, “you can’t report it. Nothing will be done, you will be made entertainment of, or maybe made a victim again by the police.” However, despite the real danger that Samir faced if people in his country of source knew about his sexuality, Samir secretly joined LGBTQI+ organisations. Even if he risked being found out, Samir knew that existence gay was an vital part of who he was. Samir himself was attacked because of his sexual orientation. He says, “I didn’t recognize my attackers, I don’t know if they knew I was gay or just assumed I was gay. I felt fancy it was going to be my turn now to be attacked and for my life to be in danger if I keep staying there.” When Samir was offered labor experience outside of Kosovo not long after his attack, Samir Soni, who plays the role of a gay fashion planner in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion in a candid conversation with Sudipta Dey. Sudipta Dey The role embodied all the right nuances a ethics in a Madhur Bhandarkar film typifies, and Soni took up the disagree of portraying a queer character in Bhandarkar’s latest film Fashion. Excerpts from a chat: So why did you accept the role in Fashion? What kind of research did you carry out?
I’m very comfortable with homosexuality: Samir Soni
Samir's story
Being gay is as normal as being straight: Samir Soni
“It was as plain as getting a smartphone call from Madhur Bhandarkar… and I knew if he would offer me half a decent role I would agree immediately,” says actor Samir Soni.
I play a closet-gay fashion designer. It was a very challenging role to play. Madhur and I did a lot of research to sketch the character and his personality. But the greatest challenge was not to make him a stereotypical gay character, but subtly express his sexuality through his personality and his relationship with the other characters in the film.
I observed people. It was great fun, observing certain gay designers in our own fashion fraternity. Existence gay is as normal as being straight, but still people look