Popular director Faruk Kabir who had come out with the film `377 Ab Normal` takes us through his process of depicting a story of this nature.
When Faruk was asked, as a director how difficult it was to handle a story of this nature, he responded saying. ”377 Ab Normal had to be made with a sensitive yet firm mind. Forever the LGBTQIA+ community has been shown in a cliched light when represented in popular cinema, I wanted to take the story not just to the community but to the large part of the homophobic mindset. I chose to write the story and direct it like any other human story that fights for justice. It wasn’t difficult, it was all encompassing and rewarding in the end. “
When asked about the kind of research process he had to go through to make his film, he explained, “My film is inspired by some of the real life petitioners who fought in the courts of India for 17 long years to abolish IPC section 377 and decriminalise homosexuality in India. So I met many petitioners like Keshav Suri and Ariff Jaffar to name a few and got talking to begin with. Their energy, their feelings, their stories is what formed a major part of my research apart from of course me having read the entire 400 page judgment by the 5 judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by CJI Deepak Misra.”
Lastly the Director was asked if he felt that topics like these should be depicted in mainstream films more, to which he replied saying. “Ofcourse, India is changing, evolving on many dimensions at a rapid pace. Culture then is not an age old static thing, but an ever changing phenomenon. And all parts of popular or age old culture, both should be celebrated in cinema.”
Also Read: ‘I wanted to create LGBTQIA+ content I wanted to see when I was growing up’, says Prarthana aka Short Haired Brown Queer
