Like many folks in and out of India, I grew up watching Indian cinema both of the regional and Bollywood variety. And whenever a choreographed dance/dream sequence burst out on screen – Oh yeah! My imagination ran wild! My Queer identity without any rules or societal structures to mimic – mapped itself gloriously onto the coy yet vibrant romance that played itself out in booty busting technicolor.
It worked a little something like this :
A (The Hero) got B ( The striking damsel ), Therefore C ( Me ) who wanted to engage in pelvic thrusts of some form or fashion with B had to become A.
Gender became irrelevant. I wanted the girl and hence, adopted the normative Gender roles if you will. I would run around trees with her, pull at her ‘pallu’ mischievously [Cannot…absolutely Cannot resist a woman in a saree] , Kiss her delicate neck while she was arched backwards in my arms, Have her caress me to her sweet bosom etc.etc.etc. In retrospect, it seems like an one way street and heck, I’d love for some of that lovin’ to be directed my way. But apparently, I was very benevolent in my youthful Bollywood dream sequences. As I grew older, they stopped. Maybe because I barely made time to watch Bollywood movies or I grew too fashionably cynical – either way, my musical dreams had lesser and lesser fodder. And I miss them. I miss that inexplicable sense of joy of something so fantastical in my head for me to relish and enjoy with song and dance and music and me and my on-screen honey grooving and busting moves to Bollywood Beats.
But, if I had to choose a Bollywood song from the past decade for my inception dream sequence?
Yes, I’d be Khan. I would edit out the bit where my girl is dancing with my father and 20 others. And I would get more progressive and sync it to this remixed version. Yep! That’s what I would do. Me at my corniest best.
Sooooo, whats your Gay Bollywood Dream Sequence ?