Tuesday, January 22, 2008

happy hookers. bomgay

its odd that i found myself disturbed by the most strange of phenomenon as i was watching happy hookers- a film about three male sex workers in bombay. what i found disturbing was perhaps the ease that the men had with themselves and their jobs. the film was able to portray that ease without any sense of voyeurism and was able to throw open difficult questions regarding sex and morality, gender and issues regarding privacy. when one of the guys who happens to also be married throws open his doors for the film maker and goes ahead and performs a romantic walk with his wife and child (who don’t know about his night job) for the camera, you cant help but be disconcerted. yet the film is able, in spite of an unfortunate detour into information brochure world, to be one of nicest films i have seen regarding sex workers and homosexuality in the city. warm and gentle – in spite of the possible scandalous nature of the subject matter.

even better for me was the 12 minute long bomgay- a series of six terse brutally honest short improvisations on the poetry of r raja rao, each looking at different aspects of living on the edge of ‘normaility’ from the oddness of everyday life to erotic undercurrents to the fear of being attacked and loneliness.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey there,

My name's Prasanna. I came across your blog and found it quite substantive and fascinating. Good job!
I've been looking for the short 'Bomgay' ever since I first saw it on Planetout.com (it has since been removed). It's a true masterpiece- obliviously surreal and painfully real at the same time. Any pointers on where I can find it?

Anonymous said...

Ya-- I am also looking for BomGay..any ideas where can I find it? It is not planetout.com anymore.
A reply will be apprecated at engyguy@yahoo.com