No matter how progressive Indians portray themselves when it comes to same-sex relationships or marriages, the taboo exists, the comments flow, and the judgments are drawn. And we are talking about 2021. Now, let us go 79 years in flashback, in the year 1942. Ismat Chughtai, an Urdu novelist and filmmaker, wrote a short story, titled Lihaaf, which was published in Urdu Literary Journal, Adab-i-Latif. This was not a conventional boy-meets-girl love story. It was different and pretty controversial considering the time this story was out.
Narrated from the standpoint of the protagonist’s niece, the story deals with a loveless marriage and how the introduction of a poor masseuse girl in the protagonist’s life gives her a new meaning to live. And when the niece encounters the hidden relationship, her shock knows no bounds.
Fire, directed by Deepa Mehta in 1996, the first Indian film to feature lesbian relationships, was loosely based on this story. And in 2019, director Rahat Kazmi, known for his offbeat movies like Mantostaan, Identity Card, Rabbi, and Wishlist, to name a few, came with his own version of Ismat Chughtai’s story. The 84-minute movie also rightly introduced Ismat as one of the characters played by the talented Tannishtha Chatterjee. The author was dragged in the obscenity trial at the Lahore court and the movie rightly depicts what went through that trial. Also, starring Sonal Sehgal of Radio: Love on Air, Damamdamm! fame along with Rahat Kazmi himself and Anushka Sen in pivotal roles.
Selected for several film festivals like the Singapore South Asian Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Boston, Indo-German Film Week, Berlin, Lihaaf: The Quilt, surely promises to challenge the ideology that differentiates what is obscene and what is not. “Sharm, haya, jo auraton ka jevaar bana diya gaya hai, mujhe usse sakt nafrat hai,’ Tannishtha’s character rightly announces in the film.
Why a woman is expected to be decent all the time and anything different is termed indecent? is the question the film raises. The movie that was made in 2019 and is finally finding a platform now definitely tries its best to eradicate the taboo that is still pertinent in our societies. Eventually, one day, same-sex relationships will be treated with respect.
Lihaaf: The Quilt premiers as one of the seven movies to be released on Voot App as a part of Voot Select Film Festival from 24th July, 2021.
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