Curated for Pride Library, University of Western Ontorio, Canada
Copyright Sridhar Rangayan, 2009
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DISCLAIMER: All interpretations and readings is by the author. All the images and videos on this site have been used only for reference, collated from sources on the internet.
CREDITS
Title: My Brother Nikhil
Year: 2003
Language: Hindi
Genre: Feature / Art House
Director: Anant Balani
SYNOPSIS
This film is set in Goa, a small costal state in India in between 1989 and 1994. Nikhil Kapoor is the state all round swimming champion. His father Navin Kapoor has raised his son to be a sports man... a dream that he never achieved for himself. His elder sister Anamika teaches in a primary school and loves him dearly. His mother Anita Rosario Kapoor adores him and from her he inherited his artistic side to his personality. One fine day he is arrested. The reason being - that he is HIV positive. He is kept in forced isolation by law. The Goa public health act allowed the government to isolate HIV positive people. His parents desert him and his friends move away. The only two people who stand by him are his sister Anamika and boyfriend Nigel.
QUEER NOTES
The first mainstream Indian film where the main protagonist is a homosexual, the film deals with issue sensitively without any mocking or ridiculing. It shows the bonding between Nikhil and Nigel with a warm emotional touch. The theme of My Brother Nikhil is both emotionally compelling and socially relevant backed with some brilliant performance. The entire film has a certain amount of subtleness to it. The fact that the main protagonist is a homosexual has been treated with utmost sensitivity and there is absolutely no vulgarity or grossness about it.
ACTOR/S IN QUEER ROLE
Sanjay Suri as Nikhil and Purab Kohli as Nigel (gay couple)
LINKS
Imdb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0419992/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Brother�_Nikhil
queer portrayals in Indian films