“As a woman I have faced many prejudices. After having passed through such circumstances, I can feel for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people) community in society. I feel society has not progressed,” Celina Jaitley shared her opinion. She was speaking at the re-launch of the magazines ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Fun’ held in Porvorim recently.

She said “The LGBT community in India is huge. And this is not something new. This community existed in India for long and is not imported from abroad. The fact is people close their eyes and ears because they don’t want to accept the reality.”
“When we stand for the good cause of this community, people point out fingers but I don’t care. I feel there are lots of barking dogs but we should not be bothered,” expressed Celina. Sharing her past life experiences she said, “I have lost many friends because of the lack of support towards this community and at the same time gained more new friends. I feel 20 years down the line people will realize their mistake for the segregation we make based on a person’s sexual orientation.” “Such discrimination towards this community is created by self. God has not created any differences,” she said.
Films can be great medium to portray this relationship. However, mockery should not be made of such relationships. It should be produced with sensitivity said the actress. The topic on LGBT emerged for the re-launch of the Fantasy and Fun magazine at the hands editor of Fun magazine, Mr Manvendra Singh Gohil was present on the occasion.
Talking exclusively to Navhind Times, the editor of Fantasy, Ms Jayanti Bhattacharya said, “Way back then after some years of the launch we suffered from a financial crunch and also a break down in partnership which resulted in the closure of the magazine. Now, 18 years later, Fantasy and Fun has been re-launched as the ‘ultimate’ lifestyle magazine for men.”
“This magazine gives me the opportunity to voice myself to the readers at large. The magazine is not talking of the rights but about the celebration of life and gay people in society,” reiterated Mr Gohil.
Talking on the emergence of homosexuality, he said, “This system is the oldest in India. It can be proven through Kamasutra on the existence of homosexuality 5000 years before in India.  It is not imported but it is exported to overseas.”

Not a Straight Love Story
 ‘Dunno Y Na Jaane Kyon’ the recent Bollywood flick with an unusual title is based on gay relationships. The main actors in the film are a gay couple. These characters are played by Kapil Sharma and Yuvraaj Parashar who were in Goa for the re-launch of the magazines ‘Fantasy’ and ‘Fun.’ While speaking to media about the movie they stated that homosexuality was quite a bold subject to deal with it and it was quite a challenging role to play.
“Initially I was not at all comfortable to play a role of a gay. But, then I did a lot of research. I read about them, interacted with my friends who are gays and even attended some gay parties, just to understand them” says actor Kapil.
This movie has been in the headlines because of the intimate scenes between the two male actors. But, the actors confirmed that this particular scene was the need of the script. “This particular scene was required. It is not to titillate the audience. It is like any other love story the only difference is that, it is between two men” explains Kapil.
This movie which will be released in India in the month of September is already making rounds at various film festivals and has even won a Best Film Award at the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival. It was also chosen at the I View New York Film Festival and now it has been selected at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in London.
Kapil believes that with homosexuality becoming subjects of films, people will become more sensitive about this issue and the issue will not be made a subject of mockery, as it was in previous films. “After doing this film I realised that emotions of all beings are the same. Thus, everyone should have a choice of their sexuality and society should accept it” concludes Kapil.