Different Perspective

April 1, 2009

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Karan Goel (27), who suffers from retinitis pigmentosa (90 per cent blindness), has made a film, The Other Side, on the gay community that urges society not to treat them as outcasts.

It’s his disability that helped him relate to homosexuals. “I have been visually impaired since childhood and though my family supported me, society did not accept me. Homosexuals face similar discrimination.”

After Goel returned to India in 2007, he decided to make a film that addresses this sensitive subject. Now that the film is ready, he has planned a special screening for the members of The Humsafar Trust, India’s first gay community organisation tomorrow in the city.

“The movie is based on the hardships faced by the homosexual communities. We need to have feedback from them, and hence have planned for the special screening,” said Goel, who is the writer, the producer and associate director of the film. [Link]

Frankly speaking, I believe a film like Dostana is a complete misfit in our current scenario. I mean those Kanta Bhen jokes and their extended versions were good during the late 1990s and early 2000, when saying “we exist” was a big enough deal. But it’s not that same anymore, now the main funda as I see it is about ‘informing & engaging’.

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