Why we don't need Karan Johar to be the face of LGBTQ movement in India

When it comes to talking about gender and sexuality, Indian society always manages to stay away from the discussion. Be it the draconian section 377 or the lack of 'out of the closet' public figures--our society makes sure homosexuality is swept under the rug.

Karan Johar has been the talk of the town because of his biography An Unsuitable Boy. The director has been mocking homosexuality through his movies for a long time. In a bid to protect his sexual preference, he made sure that his declaration was seated in caution. Johar didn't really 'come out of the closet', but implied the same with his words.

"Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is. I don't need to scream it out. If I need to spell it out, I won't only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this. Which is why I Karan Johar will not say the three words that possibly everybody knows about me (sic)," he wrote in his book.

Hold on, did just say that he can be jailed for 'spelling it out'? Well, he's wrong. You can't be jailed for coming out. That's a sheer misinterpretation of the law. The thing is, Section 377 doesn't criminalize sexuality, it criminalizes sexual activities "against the order of nature", arguably including homosexual acts.

Let's start with his movies. The character Kanta Ben in Kal Ho Na Ho suffered convulsions each time she encountered Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan. This is not progressive, even if it portrays the homophobic reaction of the society.

In Dostana, a film produced by Johar, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abaraham, pretended to be gay despite being straight. The film perpetuated the stereotype that a gay man will be effeminate, will drive a pink sedan, and will wear flowery shirts.
However, the most homophobic scene was the revulsion on Abhishek and John's faces at the end of the movie after they kiss.

Coming to another film directed by Johar--Student Of The Year. In the movie, Rishi Kapoor played a closeted gay principal of a boarding school. The character's hobbies included creeping on the hot coach, fantasizing about killing the coach's wife, and crushing on his hot, not-yet-legal, male students.

Coming back to the book--being out or not is indeed a personal choice. However, a person of Johar's stature and influence could have used his biography as a tool to start a much-needed discourse on sexuality.

Here's an excerpt from the book: "They say, 'Why don't you speak about your sexuality? You could be iconic in this country.' But I don't want to become iconic anywhere. I want to live my life."

What the 44-year-old director needs to understand here is that it is important to have icons. For a young gay man from a small town, who's still closeted, a person like Karan Johar can give him the courage to talk about his sexuality to his parents. It can make the parents understand that homosexuality is okay and there's nothing abnormal about it.

When celebs like George Michael and Ellen Degeneres came out of the closet, they made it a point to steer and shape the identity of the LGBT community in UK and the US.
What Johar needs to understand here is that with great power comes great responsibility. Which means--he has a certain responsibility towards the very community he has been mocking in most of his films.

We will admit that Kapoor and Sons was a path breaking film because of its portrayal of a gay man, who wasn't effeminate. The character played by Fawad Khan was struggling with his sexual orientation and the inner conundrum about coming out made him seem real and relatable. It became the topic of discussions because the film showed that being gay is only a part of someone's life.

The LGBTQ community have been fighting for their rights tooth and nail for over three decades. The people from the community have been called criminals, miniscule minority, and deviants. The absence of a popular, non-conformist icon in India only makes the fight longer and harder. The absence of a strong voice contributes to homosexuality becoming a hushed topic in our society.

If Johar had actually "spelled it out", he would have conveyed an important message that homosexuals are 'normal' people. And that's what the LGBTQ community needs right now. Someone has to take the lead and spearhead the conversation about transcending archaic gender binaries. If not Johar, then maybe someone else. But, it needs to be done.