Support pours in for Onir after junior defence minister defends film rejection

KOLKATA: Author Devdutt Pattanaik and designer Nil are among many who have reacted to junior defence minister Ajay Bhatt’s written reply in Lok Sabha on Friday stating that the reason for refusal to grant an NOC to Onir’s film is the portrayal of a romantic relationship between a soldier serving in Kashmir and a local boy, which casts the Army in poor light and raises security issues.
Responding to BJP member Varun Gandhi’s question in Lok Sabha on Friday, Bhatt said the approval process is neither arbitrary/discriminatory in nature, nor does it violate Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. “Each case is considered based on its merits, keeping in view factors like national security, defence of India, situation of law and order, maintenance of discipline in the armed forces, ethos and customs of military service, general sentiments of the citizens, and the image of the armed forces in the minds of the public,” Bhatt said.
Onir said this smacks of a bias against the LGBTQIA community. “I find it weird it is alright for our films to show Armymen romance/dance/fall in love/marry in films, but if you portray a patriotic gay Army man, it is supposed to be demeaning. How can a gay man falling in love be a security issue? I reinstate that, as an out-and-proud gay man, I think our queer identity shouldn’t be demeaning for any institute,” Onir said.
Pattanaik told TOI: “I am not clear if the problem is with homosexuality or since it is between a soldier and a Kashmiri boy. Would he allow it if it was between a soldier and a Kashmiri girl or a woman soldier and a Kashmiri boy, or a woman soldier and a Kashmiri girl? Is the problem with love or with the political boundaries of the lovers?”
Nil wondered if the script would have been approved had “that boy not been a Kashmiri”.
“Even if we set aside Onir’s story, does Bhatt want to say that among 1.4 million Army cadets, there is no same sex love?” the designer asked.
He insisted it’s time to grow up and address such issues in their true sense. “The Supreme Court has read down the 377. Now it’s time for society to start addressing the existence of LGBTQIA in all facets of Indian lives. Is the Army just a pawn in the hands of the government, which is still stuck in archaic times? Are we data-blind? Or is the ruling party or Ajay Bhatt trained to write their own history ignoring the history of the real people with real issues?” he asked.