Lesbians are aliens. I read it on the internet so it must be true!!! http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/409063|oddlyenough|06-14-2004::13:47|reuters.html Hindu Mobs Attack Indian Cinemas Over Lesbian Film Jun 14, 1:33 pm ET NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hardline Hindus hurled stones and damaged cinema halls in India Monday to stop the screening of a Bollywood film about a relationship between two women, saying it violated Indian culture. Nearly 100 activists of the student's wing of the Shiv Sena group smashed window panes, ripped up posters and burned effigies at a hall screening the Hindi film "Girlfriend" in Bombay, capital of India's prolific movie industry, witnesses said. The film show was stopped after the attack on the hall. Shiv Sena members also attacked a hall screening the film in the northern Hindu holy city of Varanasi, police said. There were no reports of any injuries in either incident. "The film has some lesbian scenes and we got many complaints from the public, especially women, so we decided to take action," Nitin Amberkar, a member of Shiv Sena's student wing, said in Bombay, minutes before tearing up posters of the film. About 20 Shiv Sena activists were detained in Varanasi after the incident. The cinema proceeded to screen the film under tight security, police said. Arun Pathak, the Varanasi unit chief of the hardline Hindu group, said the film violated Indian traditions. "This film is out to degrade Indian culture. We will not allow anyone to do this," he told Reuters. The director of "Girlfriend" said his film did not violate Indian culture but merely reflected a slice of society that has long been brushed under the carpet. "If my film doesn't not offend any religious or spiritual sentiments, then why the breakage?" Karan Razdan told Zee News television. "I'm just trying to show what's happening in society." The box office response to the film, which opened on Friday, has been poor. India turns out 1,000 movies a year -- the most in the world -- many of them three-hour boy-meets-girl candyfloss extravaganzas with lavish sets and song-and-dance routines. In recent years, some Bollywood film-makers have stepped off the beaten track and made movies on themes considered unorthodox by old-school producers. However, strict censorship still prevents on-screen nudity and profanity. "Fire," a 1998 Bollywood film that portrayed an intimate relationship between two women, provoked the wrath of hardline Hindus who said it promoted what they called the alien practice of lesbianism and hurt Indian culture.
By the by, apparently lesbians also don't find this film very good. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3805905.stm 'Girlfriend' causes India storm By Jayshree Bajoria BBC correspondent in Bombay Hindu hardliners have destroyed posters of a recent Bollywood film about lesbians, called Girlfriend. The protestors say that the film runs against Indian culture. The movie has also has upset women's groups who say it is a "pornographic and stereotypical portrayal" of a lesbian relationship. Activists from the right wing Shiv Sena party have stopped screenings in the cities of Bombay (Mumbai) Delhi and Varanasi, labelling it as "regressive." 'Male pleasure' An activist with party's youth wing said similar protests were staged five years ago against the film Fire which also portrayed lesbianism in India. Women's groups say that the latest film - about jealously and hidden desire coming in between two women when one of them finds a boyfriend - is "highly regressive." A member of a women's organisation Forum Against Oppression of Women, (FAOW) Tejal Shah said that "Girlfriend" is pornographic and has been made entirely to give pleasure to heterosexual males. "All the negative popular myths about lesbians [have] been woven into the storyline, and I think it will antagonise society even further," she said. As the lesbian character in Girlfriend becomes more possessive about her partner, she also becomes more psychopathic as the film reaches its conclusion. The film's Director, Karan Razdan, said the movie was about a woman who becomes a lesbian due to her circumstances rather than her sexual orientation at birth. ''I have not made a pro-lesbian film but my film has started a debate about the subject," he said. "Whether my film generates good or bad publicity, my intention is to start a discussion about this subject, and create an awareness in society. "Lesbians should be accepted in society because freedom of sexual preference should be allowed in a free and democratic country," he said. Most women's groups like FAOW agree the film has been made solely to titillate, and shows little sensitivity towards the subject. But many are wary of standing up to protest against it, because they do not want to be perceived as siding with right- wing parties. Tejal Shah organised the first international film festival in Bombay last year, dealing with sexuality and gender plurality. She argues that film makers should be allowed freedom to make what they want. "But they should also have some moral responsibility," she said.
at most 100 out of 1 billion plus population. theres probably more journalists covering this thing, making it bigger than it is than there are people actually protesting.
So Ima and Andy are both lesbians?? **shudder** I suppose i really shouldn't judge. Rock on sisters!!
