Dostana - The Stereotypical Portrayal of Homosexuality

Dostana, a commercial and immensely popular film in the Bollywood media, tells the story of two men who pretend to be gay in order to land an apartment. But later, complexities arise as they end up falling in love with the same girl, who in turn, thinks that they are both a homosexual couple. From an entertainment point of view, the movie maintains high ratings and is overall a mix of romance, comedy, and drama, as expected of all Bollywood movies. However, the implications behind the film might carry the veil of breaking tradition, but in turn, actually result in the harmful depiction of homosexuals in society.

The whole narrative can be tracked back towards the one point where they decided they would pretend to be a gay couple in order to land a luxurious apartment that they both wanted.  They initially were turned away because the landowner did not want irresponsible and hedonistic boys living in the house. The decision to pretend to be gay by the main characters has its own consequences and connotations. Throughout the film, I saw there to be a continuing hidden question of ‘is he or isn’t he actually gay’ when a either Sameer or Kunal decided to act a certain way out of personal choice. Then, he would say something or do something that would ease the concerns. For example, there would be a scene where Sameer and Kunal got a little too close, such as the one where Sameer got scared from the scary movie and climbed into bed with Kunal. The underlying question that inevitably popped into the watchers’ head was whether or not Sameer was actually gay. Then, in the next scene, Sameer would refuse to apply for a combined immigration because that would officially identify them as gay. The watchers’ concerns would be eased once again. These continuing concerns imply that people can turn into homosexuals rather than it always being an innate feature.

This film characters trope is not new in terms of American movies, including “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” and “Cruising”. However, in both American and Bollywood contexts, it should be questioned whether these films actually hurt gay visibility and reinforce LGBT stereotypes.  In a recent book about the commodification of sexuality in American television, “Tropiano [a prominent researcher in this field] explains in the comedy genre that the character of the sissy was the leading recurrent portrayal of homosexuality up to the 1970s. Furthermore, he explains that during that time, comedy sitcoms addressed the issue of homosexuality in the plotlines through:… programs where the characters pretend to be gay to escape a situation”( A Queer Eye for Capitalism: The Commodification of Sexuality in American Television, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Vargas 11). But these were sitcoms in the United States portrayed nearly forty years ago. This was long before the movement towards the acceptance of people in the LGBT community in the country. It was a cheap representation of the people who, at that time, had been largely marginalized and ridiculed.

Parallels can be drawn to Dostana in many ways. The representation of the gay man as a ‘sissy’ has an overwhelming presence in the movie. There is an abundance of examples that can be sited to demonstrate this specific occurrence. For example, when Sameer and Kunal are at the hot dog stand, an oversimplified and emotionalized gay man talked to them teary-eyed with the story of his boyfriend going to the war. The disgustingly large stereotypes that are placed on the man are so obvious in such a blatant way. It emotionalizes the character beyond the point of respectability, making them seem as somewhat weird, out of place, second-class citizens. The exaggerated false love story also represents the expectations of the overemotional, love-dovey type that is a forced stereotype onto gay people. The actions, including the loud and hysterical voice inflections of Sameer, in the love story scene were also very sentimental in a melodramatic way. They fit the ‘pansy’ stereotypes of gay people that still exist in India.

Another quote that stuck with me long after the movie was over was when Kunal had to pretend to be gay in front of the immigration inspector, but asked Sameer for advice. Sameer responded “think like a women, feel like a men”. The confusing and contradictory advice tries to characterize gay people through the traditional gender binary norms. It leads to a misrepresentation of the community and ostracizes them from society for not fitting the ‘natural’ order of life (because Kunal is not able to naturally act gay). Also, when Sameer and Kunal are re-introducing themselves to ‘aunty’, they state that ‘they are both girls’. Again, this raises the issue of gender normativity and how that plays into the way that gay people are viewed.  

While Dostana is one of the first movies in Bollywood media to so directly address the issue of homosexuality, it might be doing more harm in terms of representation of gay people rather than empowering a movement. The industry is still dated in terms of social issues and is lagging seemingly nearly forty years to that the US, in reference to the Tropiano quote. From an entertainment point of view, Dostana has all of the elements that made it the large commercial success that it was. But viewing it from an analytic perspective, convoluted representation and marginalization of homosexuals arise.