It's been quite some time since we saw any girl-on-girl action in Bollywood, the last being Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das' brief lesbian act in Fire (1996).Now, Lisa Ray will play a lesbian in not one but two movies -- I Can't Think Straight and The World Unseen. She is cast opposite Sheetal Seth in both films, directed by Shamim Sarif. Sarif, a lesbian herself, is married to her partner, Hanan Kattan. Kattan is producing both films.
I Can't Think Straight is a comedy about a half British, half Indian girl (Sheetal Seth), who falls for an Arab woman (Lisa). Sheetal, an Anglo-Indian actress, is best remembered for her English movies like Looking For Comedy In A Muslim World and ABCD.
While Sheetal's character falls for Lisa's in I Can't Think Straight, in The World Unseen, it's the other way round. Set in South Africa's apartheid movement in the 1950s, The World Unseen is about the lives of two women -- one, a docile housewife (Lisa), who falls for a free-spirited woman (Sheetal).
While we wait for the films to hit Indian shores, lets take a look at films with similar lesbian themes.
Sushen Bhattnagar's Monica is loosely based on the life of murdered journalist Shivani Bhatanagar. The movie is about small-town girls, who are ready to do anything to make it big in the city. Sometimes they are forced to find solace in each other's company. Which brings us to Divya, who not bares her back in the movie but also performs a lesbian act with Kitu Gidwani.
After her bold scenes in Tauba Tauba and Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai, the former Bigg Boss housemate has gone a step further by starring in a lesbian flick aptly titled Men Not Allowed.The film, directed by Shrey Shrivastav, also stars newcomer Tina Mazumdar.
Men Not Allowed, which hits theatres in June, is about women who are fed up of being deceived and tortured by men. These women then join forces and fall in love.
Remember this one?Eesha plays a possesive lesbian while Amrita plays her girlfriend, who pretends to be a lesbian but is having an affair with Aashish Chowdhary. Eesha is also a man hater, who was physically abused as a child.
The film, which was directed by Karan Razdan, had many bold and intimate lovemaking scenes.
When the movie released, it earned the wrath of Hindu fundamentals who vandalised theatres and tore posters in protest of the lesbian theme in the movie. What also incensed them was the fact that the female characters in the movie were named Radha and Sita.This was the first Hindi film to tackle the subject of lesbianism and also the first to show women making love to each other.
