Gulabi Aaina
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''The Pink Mirror'', titled ''Gulabi Aaina'' in India, is an Indian film drama produced and directed by
Sridhar Rangayan Sridhar Rangayan (also spelt Sridhar Rangaihn; born 2 April 1962) is an Indian filmmaker who has made films with special focus on queer subjects. His queer films, '' The Pink Mirror'', '' Yours Emotionally'', '' 68 Pages'', '' Purple Skies'', ...
. It is said to be the first Indian film to comprehensively focus on Indian transsexuals with the entire story revolving around two transsexuals and a
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
teenager's attempts to seduce a man, Samir (Rufy Baqal). The film explores the
taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
subject of transsexuals in India which is still much misunderstood and ridiculed. In 2003, the
Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory Motion picture content rating system, film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of ...
banned this film. The censor board cited that the film was 'vulgar and offensive'. The filmmaker appealed twice again unsuccessfully. The film still remains banned in India, but was screened at numerous festivals all over the world and won awards. The critics have applauded it for its sensitive and touching portrayal of marginalized communities. India's foremost gay activist Ashok Row Kavi says in his review, "The wonder is that it was not made before. The reality is that it is here now." India's leading newspaper, ''The Indian Express'', wrote, "This is more than just the 'peeping into the closet' that Rangayan intended. It's almost throwing the doors wide open for the world to look in!" The film has received tremendous support and critical acclaim from reviewers, festival directors and global audiences. It was screened at more than 70 international
film festivals A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent date and depe ...
and won a couple of awards. The film is also used as part of university archives and libraries as resource material in academic courses.


Plot

The film centers around two drag performers: Bibbo, a
Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
fashion designer Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applied arts, applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has va ...
, and Shabbo, a dancer, who have a strenuous and often volatile relationship with each other. Though they are known to quarrel often, they are always able to reconcile soon after an argument and prove to the other that they care about them. They both have an attraction to Samir, an aspiring actor whom Bibbo claims is her driver, despite Bibbo not owning a car. The situation is further complicated by Mandy, Shabbo's young Western apprentice, who reveals he is
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
and admits to being attracted to Samir. Throughout the escapades and comedic antics that occur during the scuffle to win Samir's heart, Bibbo learns Shabbo's secret that he is
HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...
-positive, and is not above revealing his secret to Samir or possibly even the entire city.


Cast


Festivals

The movie has been shown at many film festivals *Fire Island Film Festival *12th Le Festival Question de Genre – Gay Kitschcamp *Fire Island Film and Video Festival *18th Turin International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival *Digital Talkies Film Festival *6th Pink Apple Gay and Lesbian Film Festival *San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival *Queer Filmstan *Austin Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival *Indianapolis LGBT Film Festival *Barcelona International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival *Hamburg International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival *Cork Film Festival *Lehigh Valley Queer Film Festival *Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival *Out Takes Dallas Lesbian & Gay Film Festival *Rhode Island International Film Festival *Translations – Seattle Transgender Film Festival, USA (May 2009)


Awards

* Jury Award for Best Feature,
Fire Island, New York Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two isl ...
, USA *Best Film of the Festival, Question de Genre,
Lille, France Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...


Other related films

Since ''The Pink Mirror'', its director, Sridhar Rangayan, has made 5 more films dealing with
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
and
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
people: '' Yours Emotionally'' (2006) is a film about a passionate love story between a British Asian from UK and a small town Indian youth. The film received good reviews for its bold and groundbreaking narrative. It has been released on DVD by Waterbearer Films. '' 68 Pages'' (2007) is a film about the lives of five people who fight all odds to survive. It is about stigma and discrimination faced by HIV+ people – a transsexual bar dancer, a commercial sex worker, a gay couple, a heterosexual ID user and a municipality sweeper. The film derives its name from 68 pages of a counselors diary. This film had its world premiere at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK 2007) in December 2007. ''
Purple Skies ''Purple Skies'' is a 2014 movie directed by Sridhar Rangayan and produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust and Solaris Pictures. It documents the opinions of lesbians, bisexuals and trans men in India. It was broadcast on Doordarshan in 2 ...
'' (2014) is a 2014 movie directed by Sridhar Rangayan and produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust and Solaris Pictures. It documents the opinions of lesbians, bisexuals and trans men in India. It was broadcast on Doordarshan in 2015. '' Breaking Free'' is a 2015 film directed by Sridhar Rangayan and produced by Solaris Pictures. In this documentary, filmmaker and gay activist Sridhar Rangayan embarks on a personal journey to expose the human rights violations faced by the LGBTQ community in India due to a draconian law Section 377 and homophobic social mores of a patriarchal society. The film was selected to be part of the Indian Panorama (non-Fiction) and screened at International Film Festival of India in 2015. It won the Rajat Kamal National Award for Best Editing (Non-Fiction) in 2016 for its editors Pravin Angre and Sridhar Rangayan. It also won the Barbara Gittings Human Rights Award at qFLIX Philadelphia in 2016. '' Evening Shadows'' (2018) is a movie set in South India and Mumbai, 'Evening Shadows' is a tender heartwarming story about a mother-son bond that has to withstand the ravages of time, distance and truths.


References


External links


''The Pink Mirror'' IMDb page''The Pink Mirror'' Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pink Mirror, The HIV/AIDS in Indian films 2006 LGBTQ-related films 2006 films Indian LGBTQ-related films Transgender-related films Film censorship in India Obscenity controversies in film Censored films Cross-dressing in Indian films Gay-related films Indian romantic comedy films