Afraid of the growing restrictions on creative freedom, the director in Jeo Baby is also happy for the kind of exposure films get these days.
Director Jeo Baby. (Instagram)
It is a worrying trend that films in India today go through many forms of censorship, said Jeo Baby, whose recent film Kaathal-The Core (2023) shows Malayalam superstar Mammootty as a homosexual man, resetting the narrative of the gay community in popular cinema.
The sensitive portrayal devoid of gay tropes for long, the community has only been fodder for humour won many hearts.
“But I’m afraid about what is happening in India right now. We are facing religious and political censoring. It is worrying not only for filmmakers but all artists,” Baby told PTI in an interview.
Censorship is not something new to Baby, a self-proclaimed problem-maker.
In January 2021, when he was all set to release his other critically acclaimed film The Great Indian Kitchen, starring Nimisha Sajayan, which succinctly brought out how society stifles women and their freedom, the COVID-19 restrictions made the theatrical release impossible.
But popular OTT platforms were not ready to touch the film, as the film also tackled a socio-political issue that was playing out at that time — the entry of menstruating women into the Sabarimala temple.
He finally had to release the film on a Malayalam streaming platform, Neestram.
Luckily for Jeo Baby, just like Kaathal, The Great Indian Kitchen too captured the people’s hearts despite the heaviness of the subject. And all those trending hashtags forced the mainstream OTT platforms to review their decision.
Finally, three months after its release, Amazon Prime got the rights to the film.
Baby said artistes must stand firm for their creative freedom.
“…unfortunately, some people are giving in like the recent withdrawal of the film (Tamil film Annapoorani was pulled off the OTT platform for hurting religious sentiments). In effect, they are accepting that they are doing a crime or something. That’s not good for the cinema or the artiste or the society,” said Baby.
‘Kaathal The Core’ speaks of issues faced by the LGBTQIA+ community. (Instagram)
Overcoming challenges is part of the deal when one takes on the institution, said Jeo Baby.
“Back when I was a film student, the short film I made in 2007, Secret Minds, was about homosexual people. I was expelled from my film institute for that film,” he said.
Ironically, 17 years later, a full-length feature film on the same subject brought him fans from across India, standing testimony to the fact that things change with time, something that artists can derive hope from, the director added.
“There is no connection between the short film and Kaathal. Decriminalisation changed the status quo of the community in 2018. Kaathal is more about that. But since 2005, I have been studying a lot about this community. I read a lot about sexuality, about homosexual people, about LGBTQ+ I know they are normal people,” said Jeo Baby.
And when an opportunity presented itself to showcase them as normal people, he took it gladly, he added.
“The film was well received, but a lot of people also criticised Mammootty, who has done a lot of hyper-masculine characters, for playing Matthew. The LBTQ+ community is still facing a lot of issues in our country. But hopefully, looking at how people are accepting. Kaathal, maybe they will one day get to live a normal life,” said Jeo Baby.
Though giving in to societal pressure is no option, the filmmaker said there is no point in rushing to the goalpost without a ball.
For instance, Baby said while he had been listening to many stories on the LGBTQ+ community for nearly two years, he was not convinced about anything before Kaathal.
“I know Kaathal was different because it is also about how innocent people suffer due to social conditioning and archaic laws. The content of the film made me confident, even though there were these niggling doubts about its acceptance. Fortunately for me, we have a wonderful audience in Kerala, who set the ball rolling,” said Jeo Baby.
Jeo Baby’s directorial ‘Kaathal The Core’. (Instagram)
According to Jeo Baby, films like The Great Indian Kitchen and Kaathal are important because they hold a mirror to society.
“They are there only because our society is like that. Our women are living the kind of life like that. Like Omana, the wife who is saddled with a homosexual husband. Like Nimisha’s nameless character in Great Indian Kitchen, whose only identity is that of a wife. If our society is good, there is no need for The Great Indian Kitchen or Kaathal. Maybe, I will make other kinds of movies,” he said.
“After Kaathal was released on OTT platforms, it got a lot of appreciation from all over the country. I get emails from people telling me how their life is like Matthew’s, Omana’s or Thangan’s. We are getting a larger audience. So, our politics, ideology or our content will reach all over the country. That’s a good thing,” he added.
Artistes should leverage this technology to offset the growing censorship, Jeo Baby felt.
“We must find new platforms for screening or streaming these kinds of films. I think we all need to get together, as we are fighting against social conditioning. It may be possible that at some point a lot of artists are jailed because of their art. So, yeah, I am afraid. But if we fight together, we will win this, I know that. There’s hope through art,” he added.
(Disclaimer: The headline, subheads, and intro of this report along with the photos may have been reworked by South First. The rest of the content is from a syndicated feed, and has been edited for style.)
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