Family who disowned son for kissing a man on screen takes him back in its fold at a public queer event.
The 2010 Indian gay film Dunno Y...Na Jaane Kyon (DYNJK) with its first gay kiss in Indian cinema between Yuvraaj Parashar and Kapil Sharma had managed to push the envelope on exclusion issues and homophobia. It was nevertheless panned for being atrociously written and executed and turned out to be a dud at the box office.
The controversy because of the nudity and the love-making scenes had led to Yuvraaj Parashar being disowned by his parents who even began the legal procedure for the same.
On the occasion of the announcement of the movie's sequel at the on-going LGBT Kashish film festival on Saturday, Yuvraaj's father Satish Parshar got reunited with his son and publicly accepted he was wrong.
"We come from Agra, a small town and have had a very orthodox conservative upbringing. In 2010 when his film released I was shocked that the posters showed him nude and in another man's arms," he remembered and added, "The jibes from neighbours and extended family was too much to take and I decided to disown him legally." While apologetically admitting he still hasn't watched the movie, the 52-year-old admits, "I am not sure whether I will be comfortable doing so and admit this is a shortcoming."
He told dna how he has always been very fond of his eldest. "He was interested in dance and acting and came to Mumbai but I wasn't prepared for this." His son's successes as DYNJK went from strength to strength to several international film festivals around the world kept reaching his ears. "Which parent won't be happy to hear of their child's success?" he asks adding, "I realised that something the world was lauding couldn't really be all that bad."
On his part an emotional Yuvraaj admits to being miserable due to the strained relations between him and his parents. "I did try to reach out to my mother Rajkumari but afraid of how papa would take it she was not responding."
And then in the April of 2011 when DYNJK went to Israel for film festival, things turned around after Norwegian film maker Tonje Gjvjdon saw it. "She was so moved that she immediately said she wanted to make a sequel shot in Europe with an Indian, Pakistani and European cast," remembers Yuvraaj's co-star DYNJK Kapil Sharma who is paired opposite him again. When we ask whether they will kiss or have steamy scenes together he chortles, "If the script demands it why not?"
Yuvraaj's father too shrugs his shoulder and says, "Yeah its only a role, I understand that now," but quickly adds, "Yuvraaj is happily married and the father of two, you know."
An emotional Kashish film festival director Sridhar Rangayan too said, "Today its very fulfilling to see that the only LGBT film festival in the country has ended up becoming a platform to end familial exclusion on the basis of sexual identity, even if its only on screen."
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