Indian filmmaker readies movie titled 'Starring Ranbir & Hrithik'

For anyone familiar with Bollywood, Ranbir Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan are superstars. But in Indian filmmaker Sanjoy Nags latest project "Starring Ranbir & Hrithik" -- a lesbian drama -- the two names are merely used as characters, but without surnames.

"They are characters who play important parts. They are not called Ranbir Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan. People are just reading into it. They are just Ranbir and Hrithik in the film," variety.com quoted Nag as saying.

Nag describes the film as "an out and out love story. Only, it is between two women". The title characters play a significant part in the lives of the two women.

Nag is seeking co-producers and finance for the English and Hindi language film at the Busan Asian Project Market. The film is budgeted at $375,000 of which $10,000 of seed money is from India's Bunty Talkies.

"Memories in March", Nag's feature film debut, where a mother discovers that her recently deceased son was secretly gay, had its world premiere at Busan in 2010 and was in competition in the New Currents section.

Homosexuality in India is illegal under Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code, dating back to 1860. It was decriminalised in 2009, only to be reinstated in 2013.

"We had to look at the legal loopholes. I constantly talk to lawyers. This kind of content can become tricky and sensitive. There is '377' looming large over you in India all the time," he said.

Nag has spoken to some well-known actors to play the leads, but no contracts have been signed yet.

A small amount of gay-themed films are made in India but Nag does not think the stories are being told well.

"The problem is, the moment you get into a same-sex relationship film, you think you're doing something different. These kinds of films are attempted by mostly newcomers who know that cinema is also a platform for coming out, but they are not trained filmmakers and that's why the films are not good enough," he said.

Nag will begin principal photography at northern Indian locations in late 2017. He is currently completing post on his feature "Good Morning Sunshine", starring Shabana Azmi, Revathy and Rituparna Sengupta.

--IANS

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