Even as you read this, you may have watched the self-styled ‘first ever lesbian ad’ on YouTube (that can be contested by makers of a watch brand who showed two girl-band styled girls walking out of a closet, while adjusting their clothes, hair). You may have also read the paeans written to the ‘bold’ and ‘beautiful’ and ‘sensitive’ and ‘gentle’ ad that tackles the issue of LGBT rights. While one is appreciative of the film’s production styling and lightness of touch, one cannot but question the intent and the lack of real understanding of the community and its concerns.
The fact that the film has been released on the digital platform, where censorship takes its time to choke free speech, says a lot about the trepidation with which the clothing brand has approached the subject. On the one hand, it has shown some spine by embracing the community, on the other, it has evidently played it ultra safe by the way the subject has been treated and the film released.
The picture-perfect setting, the pretty girls (oh why the stereotypes with the androgynous t-shirt stretched over a well-endowed bosom and the slender, tall kohl-wearing other?), the wispy curtains and the chic kurtas, are all pleasing to the eye. Yes, they do work to help us suspend disbelief for a few minutes. But that snap away from reality also works against its purported intent. The poetic, almost lyrical ode to the young lesbian women comes across as too photoshopped, cosmetic and unreal. The challenges of being a lesbian in a middle-class Indian family are so far removed from the postcard situation of the pretty couple in the ad, that you cannot help but wonder if this is nothing but just someone’s fantasy posing as a slice-of-life ad film.
There is a certain rhythm in the interactions of the couple no doubt. But as any member of the LGBT community will tell you, being a lesbian or gay is not always about being in a relationship with a partner. Just as you don’t necessarily have to show a heterosexual copulating couple to establish their straightness.
That apart, I am not sure why the makers of the brand chose to portray a lesbian couple to appropriate the ‘bold’ space. A quick look at their line will reveal that their designs and their silhouettes are nothing out of the ordinary.
‘Bold’ is perhaps one of the most used and abused words in advertising parlance. Everything from a deo that makes women shed their clothes and wrap themselves around a man, to a SUV that takes on the jungle of Indian roads, to even a well-designed cell phone likes to call itself ‘bold.’
Besides, are lesbians expected to dress differently? Or are the clothes meant only for the LGBT community? Heck, it is an ad after all. And the somewhat polished gimmick is not better than the ones that use shock and awe to create brand recall.
But then, what was the brand again?
In 2003, Raima Sen featured in a Bengali film, called Nil Nirjane. Do a quick Google search and you will find the critically acclaimed film reduced to a one-line search – Raima- Mou Sultana lesbian kiss. Mou, as some of you may remember, was an extremely talented singer, who had almost made it to VIVA, the MTV India girl band. She went on to feature in several films and nearly released an album before settling abroad. Raima went on to feature in many other well received films. Incidentally, Sultana was also part of another Bengali film produced for a TV channel, in which she gets drawn into a lesbian relationship. Unfortunately for Sultana, all her musical work pales in insignificance to the ‘tag’ she had been slapped with – the girl from the hot lesbian scenes.
LGBT rights, for mainstream media, will continue to remain a powerful marketing gimmick, just as naxalism has been in recent times. Both complex. Both misunderstood.
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