Samir gay
Being gay is as normal as creature straight: Samir Soni
Samir Soni, who plays the role of a queer fashion designer in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion in a candid conversation with Sudipta Dey.
Sudipta Dey
“It was as uncomplicated as getting a phone call from Madhur Bhandarkar… and I knew if he would provide me half a decent role I would agree immediately,” says actor Samir Soni.
The role embodied all the right nuances a ethics in a Madhur Bhandarkar film typifies, and Soni took up the question of portraying a gay character in Bhandarkar’s latest film Fashion. Excerpts from a chat:
So why did you accept the role in Fashion?
I play a closet-gay fashion designer. It was a very challenging role to play. Madhur and I did a lot of explore to sketch the character and his personality. But the greatest challenge was not to build him a stereotypical gay character, but subtly express his sexuality through his personality and his relationship with the other characters in the film.
What compassionate of research did you carry out?
I observed people. It was wonderful fun, observing certain gay designers in our own fashion fraternity. Being lgbtq+ is as normal as being unbent, but still people look
I’m very comfortable with homosexuality: Samir Soni
Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das kissed under the mosquito net in Deepa Mehta’s Heat. No one from mainstream cinema dared before or after to bring lgbtq+ love openly out of the closet onto the screen.
In fact Rekha who was the first selection for Fire said to me, “I’d happily brush Nandita Das a dozen times. But not THAT way.”
And when Tom Hanks “dared” to play a gay HIV-positive in Philadelphia he refused to peck his screen-lover Antonio Banderas.
Samir Soni(Raj Kumar Santoshi’s revelation best- remembered as Madhuri Dixit’s caddish lover in Lajja and as Amitabh Bachchan’s ungrateful son in Baghban) is the first Indian actor to own played a gay personality in a mainstream Hindi film.
And that isn’t all. Samir Soni in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion has actually done a passionate kissing scene with his screen lover played by a young theatre artiste named Anil Kumar.
Madhur spotted Anil in a posh party-scene for Fashion and immediately offered him the role of Samir Soni’s partner. Anil accepted without hesitation and had no problems with the intimate scen
Being gay is as normal as being straight: Samir Soni
"It was as uncomplicated as getting a handset call from Madhur Bhandarkar… and I knew if he would offer me half a decent role I would agree immediately,” says actor Samir Soni.
The role embodied all the right nuances a nature in a Madhur Bhandarkar film typifies, and Soni took up the test of portraying a lgbtq+ character in Bhandarkar’s latest film Fashion. Excerpts from a chat:
So why did you accept the role in Fashion?
I play a closet-gay fashion designer. It was a very challenging role to play. Madhur and I did a lot of research to sketch the character and his individuality. But the greatest question was not to craft him a stereotypical same-sex attracted character, but subtly convey his sexuality through his personality and his connection with the other characters in the film.
What caring of research did you carry out?
I observed people. It was great entertaining, observing certain gay designers in our own fashion fraternity. Being gay is as normal as existence straight, but still people look down upon the gay community. A person’s sexual orientation does not define the person, and that is what we have tried to center on in this clip.
Samir recounts how commonplace it was for LGBTQI+ people to experience hostility and violence. He remembers one of his friends creature attacked and severely beaten when it was found out he was lgbtq+. He was kicked out of his home by his family and forced to flee. However, he couldn’t state the crimes to the police, search help or even medical assistance because of fear of the authorities. “Even if you find beaten up for being gay”, Samir says, “you can’t report it. Nothing will be done, you will be made fun of, or maybe made a victim again by the police.” However, despite the valid danger that Samir faced if people in his land of origin knew about his sexuality, Samir secretly unified LGBTQI+ organisations. Even if he risked being found out, Samir knew that being gay was an essential part of who he was. Samir himself was attacked because of his sexual orientation. He says, “I didn’t understand my attackers, I don’t know if they knew I was gay or just assumed I was gay. I felt like it was going to be my twist now to be attacked and for my life to be in peril if I preserve staying there.” When Samir was offered perform experience outside of Kosovo not distant after his assault,
Samir's story