If you're honest with emotion, audience gets it: Rohan Kanawade

At the just-concluded Kashish queer film festival, a film that raised several eyebrows even among the open-minded audience was Rohan Kanawade’s narrative short film, Ektya Bhinti (Lonely Walls), which is the story of a gay son discovering his father, too, is into men, and his reaction to it.

dna’s Yogesh Pawar spoke to the 26-year-old interior designer-turned-filmmaker to find out what he felt about reactions to the incestuous encounter between the father-son duo in his film.

Since you call your first film in 2006 a disaster, did you ever feel you were biting off more than you can chew with Ektya Bhinti?
Yes, it was indeed a challenge, given the subject. There was just no sponsor. I have written, scripted, directed, shot and edited the film on my own. Luckily, I met 33-year-old Bhushan Kulkarni at last year’s Kashish and felt he was just right to play the son with a mix of passion and vulnerability. Once he had been cast, finding a father for him was easier. Both actors came on board with zero expectations. The crowds you see at the birthday party scene are friends from the gay community.

The film has both frontal nudity and sex in it. Weren’t you concerned it would become risqué or end up looking like porn?
I know the dividing line can be very very thin, so everything — from the way it was written to the way it was shot — had to be done keeping this in mind. There were no lusty whistles or cries when the scene came on. Instead, there was silence. Keeping it human and sensitive was central to the filming and when you are honest with the emotion, the audience gets it.

You see, what happens between them is an accidental episode, when both father and son are completely drunk. As a widower who has brought up the son single-handedly, they are very close.

Yet this episode drives a wedge between them. The son seeks a transfer to Delhi and the guilt-ridden father cannot stop him.

Did walking the thin line and keeping it sensitive come more easily to you because you yourself are gay?
Yes. I wanted it to be as real as my own Maharashtrian middle class life and circumstances, without falling into stereotypes of any kind. I also kept it consciously black and white since I wanted the stark mood of what is unfolding to get across.

What reactions did you and the cast get for the film?
I came out to my family only a week before the festival so I’m hoping the film will help them come to terms with what is happening better. As for the audiences, they seem to like the film. Many have found it overwhelming and said so. Both Abhay and Bhushan are getting a lot of good feedback.

The latter, who has a nude scene in the film, has been getting hit on a lot since (laughs).