THIMMAIAH ROAD: Filmmaker and activist Sridhar Rangayan’s Breaking Free, a feature length documentary, delves into lives affected by Section 377. The film will be screened in Bengaluru on June 24 at 7pm at Alliance Française de Bangalore.
Travelling across India, featuring in-depth interviews with advocates, activists and candid testimonies of gay and transgender persons, Breaking Free traces the history of the colonial, anti-sodomy law Section 377.
What starts off as a personal journey to unearth victimisation of LGBT persons at the hands of the law and police, the film spirals into a journey of an emerging community, that is rising out of the shadows and emphatically stating there is ‘No Going Back!’
The film features several people from Bengaluru - activists Manohar Elavarthi, Sumathi Murthy and Vinay Chandran, lawyers B.T.Venkatesh, Arvind Narrain and Danish Sheikh, LGBT community members Chanakya and Sonu, and victims of Section 377 - Kokila and Madhumita, both of whom suffered a lot at the hands of police for no crime of theirs.
“Everyone, including the courts, have this constant refrain that Section 377 doesn’t affect the LGBT community as there are not enough convictions to prove it. Breaking Free provides concrete evidence how this draconian law has been used and misused repeatedly”, says Rangayan and adds, “My film is an expose on the brutality faced by the LGBT community at the hands of police and blackmailers. It offers first person accounts of those who have been tortured, raped and blackmailed. It is time to tell the truth.”
The film is a personal journey for the filmmaker who travelled over seven years to nine cities across India to meet activists, lawyers and victims to bring to light the real plight of the community. The film also traces the Indian LGBT movement’s journey from invisibility to empowerment.
Breaking Free which had its world premiere in May 2015 at the sixth KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival has touched a chord with youngsters in the audience who have commented on social media sites: “From highs and lows, from hopes to despair, from weakness to strength, this movie touches every aspect of Section 377 and LGBT people in India”;“Broke me into tears”, “The movie brings out the real suffering of the community at the hands of the law and why we need to break free from the medieval law” and “I hope not just every LGBT person, but those who think Section 377 doesn’t affect lives, must watch it once.”
The film will soon travel to film festivals around the world and other parts of India to create awareness and sensitise people about gay, lesbian and transgender rights. “After seeing the film you will realize that what the LGBT community is asking for is a basic human right, to live and love with dignity. This should not be denied to anyone in any country by any law”, says Rangayan and adds, “Section 377 has to go immediately so that this violence and exploitation can stop.”
Breaking Free will be screened on June 24 at 7pm at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore Vasanthmagar, Bengaluru. Call 080 -4080 8181 for details. The event is free for all. Director Sridhar Rangayan will be present for a an interaction.