My Son Is Gay, also known as En Magan Magizhvan in India (Tamil: என் மகன் மகிழ்வன், romanized: Eṉ Makaṉ Makiḻvaṉ), is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language film. It is a tale of a gay man coming out and the impact it has on his relationship with his mother and other people around them. Lokesh Kumar, a filmmaker from Chennai, India, wrote and directed the film.[2] The film is about acceptance, tolerance, and the right of marginalized people to live with dignity in mainstream of society.[3][4] The film has won 4 awards.[5]
| My Son Is Gay | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Lokesh Kumar |
| Produced by | Anil Saxena Lokesh Kumar |
| Starring | Anupama Kumar Ashwinjith Abishek Joseph George Kishore Jayaprakash |
| Cinematography | Rathina Kumar |
| Edited by | Dani Charles |
| Music by | Santhan Anebajagane |
Production company | Beyond The Limit Creations |
Release date |
|
Running time | 115 Minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Tamil |
Plot
editLakshmi is a mother and a no-nonsense school principal. Her life is uncomplicated and safe and she is blissfully unaware of the storm brewing that will threaten everything she believes in. She loves her son Varun, a cheerful and a carefree young man who is devoted to her. Varun always knew he was different from other boys, but felt secure in his mother's love. That security is shattered when Lakshmi discovers Varun is gay and rejects him. Varun finds love with Karthik, but he will never be as happy as he once was. Lakshmi can't bear the loss of her son and sets out to find him.[6][7]
Cast
edit- Anupama Kumar as Lakshmi
- Ashwinjith as Varun
- Abishek Joseph George as Karthik
- Jayaprakash as Dr Ram
- Kishore as Gopi
- Sriranjani as Uma
- Eswari as Chandrama
- Sharath as Rohit
- Maya S. Krishnan as Maya
- Sharukh Ahmed as Sharukh
- Sowmith Yadav as Aakash
Production
editThe project began as a Hindi-language feature film in 2013.[8][9] The makers made an unsuccessful attempt at crowd-funding and put the film on hold for almost two years.[10] By 2016 the director Lokesh Kumar and Anil Saxena (producer) decided to produce it in Tamil.[2] The movie was shot at Malabar Cove (near the famous Drive-in Beach of Muzhappilangad) in Kannur, Kerala, South India. The film was completed by early 2017 and saw its world premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. It was selected to be shown at the New York LGBT Film Festival in October 2017. The film was also selected in Dialogues Kolkata LGBT fest and had its Indian Premiere there. The film had its Chennai Premiere in 15th Chennai International Film Festival by December 2017. The film had great response in Kolkata and Chennai.
In 2018, the rights of the film was acquired by a Mumbai based company called Select Media & the film was dubbed in Hindi language, which was further sold to Star India for their television streaming. The Hindi dubbed version was released on 4 October 2020 and the original Tamil version was released on 4 November 2020 in Youtube.
References
edit- ^ "Beyond Bollywood My Son Is Gay". Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ a b Balachandran, Logesh (6 January 2017). "A film on gay love in Tamil". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Yellapantula, Suhas (9 May 2014). "Crowd-funding a talking point". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ PTI, Indiatv (10 April 2014). "Filmmaker Lokesh: "My Son is Gay", about an emotional relationship between a mother and her gay son". India TV. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Staff, TNM (21 March 2018). "'En Magan Magizhvan' wins Best Film at Indian World Film Festival". The News Minute. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Ray, Sankha (25 June 2018). "Film Review : My Son Is Gay ( 2018) by Lokesh Kumar". Asian Movie Pulse. Archived from the original on 31 August 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Narayanan, Lavanya Lakshmi (4 July 2018). "BIFF 2018: My Son is Gay: a bold story defeated by its packaging". Medium. Archived from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Pawar, Yogesh (18 May 2014). "A look at 'My Son Is Gay' - India's first crowd-funded LGBT film". DNA. Archived from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Jyoti, Dhrubo (14 May 2014). "My Son is Gay: How A Bold New Feature Is Taking Indian Queer Cinema By Storm". Gaylaxy. Archived from the original on 4 February 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Rao, Subha J (13 March 2017). "The other angle". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2020.