Friday, the 13th.

What a day to start.

Today I watched two films as a part of Osian Cine Fan of asian and arabic cinema. Lady Chatterley (2006), a Pascale Ferran's adaptation of the society-rupturer D.H Lawrence, was a breezy three hours. Beautifully encapsulated with shots of daffodils, rain and the rustic gamekeeper's hut in the middle of nowhere, the film is sensual and aesthically shot, even though most of the time the characters of Constance and Parkin are unabashedly making love. All in the wonderful lap of nature. The number of senior men in the audience amazed me, and I don't know how many of them had hard ons, but a few people walked out halfway. The film made me think how copulating was so mechanically undergone, I didn't even see a kissing scene until the last 30 minutes of the film. The lack of excessive dialogue, heartwarming glances and brilliant acting makes this worth a watch. Call me a sucker, but the movie's almost a release from most of the crap you're subjected to these days. I think the French riviera beckons like never before.

Blood Brothers by Alexi Tan was equally stirring, although gory. Although you don't feel the ties between the brothers, he's got slick direction, a Wong Kar Wai style of narrative which is completely intriguing. Set in 1930's Caponesque Shanghai, the costumes and sets are commendable. Actually, the Chinese are fascinating. I remember the three weeks I spent in villages like Shenzen and Shi shi (pronounced sé sé) were spent trying to figure the smart asses out. China Blue (Micha Peled) is another kickass film to watch in that regard. I didn't see too many journalists hovering about, but was anticipating the presence of a couple of few, including the fascinating author of Gay Bombay.

Parmesh Shahani is quite something. Although I'm not homophobic, gay/lesbian people used to freak me out with their "moves" (probably because I was one of the trials when I was a young teen). But I got nothing against them. Straight people are equally scary and stupid. And as I heard him speak, my perception completely swayed to their benefit. I thought his book was pretty explicit (much to his disagreement) and frankly I thought, wtf and why am I doing this interview. His googled images in a fuchsia kurta and a fuckall Bollywood ringtone had me biased at first, but the chap is lovely. He turned up for the interview 15 minutes late, which is not much, but the waiters completely hounded me (he yelled at them for that). He's a towering figure who marched in dressed in a formal suit with a waist-tall umbrella and the widest grin. It was adorable. After the interview, we both let our guard down and had a fantastic photoshoot. Ideally, he wanted to lick his lips and lie down on one of the pink sofas and sprawl his legs, but yeah, I don't think the art team would've been pleased with that. He's one of those people who remind you of children. As we were discussing the obstacles hurled for the gay population, he exuded nothing but optimism and hope for a better future. At first I thought he was just playing naïve, but was infectious. Living life with gay abandon. Not giving a shit about what people think. At 32, he's recently single and looking for love. He grew up on Indian commercial movies, so Bollywood themes, dialogues, characteristics flow within him (with godforsaken ringtones). I never really believed that these whimsical movies could give someone unrealistic expectations about love.