An exhibition of oil paintings explores a complicated sexuality in iconic images of the ’90s ‘macho’ Bollywood icons
Aamir Khan
This weekend, Mumbai’s art aficionados will be introduced to a different kind of exhibition titled Esqueer: See The World Through Rainbow Tinted Glasses by Mili Sethia that takes a deeper look at the idea that gender is non-binary.
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Akshay Kumar
“There are no ‘straight’ stories or people — and this means no one person is just masculine or feminine,” says 26-year old Sethia, who works as a graphic designer. “My boss saw the controversial Shakti Kapoor image where he is dressed in a drape and asked me for an oil painting of it. This led me to look at more images from the 1990s Bollywood, where the concept of machoism was quite different. This is not to speculate that they are of a different sexual orientation than they say they are, but that there simply is more to them than meets the eye,” she adds.
Jackie Shroff
Sethia, who studied painting, sculpture, followed by culture and sustainability, did her Master’s in Transcultural Design from Shanghai. She has always been a very active participant in LGBT Pride in the cities of Bangalore, Shanghai and Mumbai while she has lived in those cities. “In earlier Bollywood films, heroes would get emotional about their mothers. Today it would be considered gay. That was a time when it was okay for men to show their emotions. It’s a lot more rigid today, and people are less accepting of anything that strays a bit from the norm,” says Sethia adding that the 90s were also a time when people “aped the West and thought they were being sexy by doing strange things. Actresses sniffed a feather and bit their own hair in portfolio shoots.” The exhibition includes 11 paintings of actors like Shakti Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Aditya Pancholi, Aamir Khan and a few more “exemplary” masculine men.
Aditya Pancholi
A percentage of the proceeds from the exhibition will go to Solidarity Foundation based in Bengaluru that supports sexual minorities (LGBT) and sex workers from disadvantaged backgrounds. The exhibiton is part of the QFest is a monthly LGBTQ-friendly festival held on the first Sunday of every month.
Shakti Kapoor
On: Sun, October 9, 12 pm onwards
At: The Hive, 50-A, Huma Mansion, Chuim Village Road, off Union Park, Khar (W).
Call: 9619962969
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