Gujarati film on two men in love to debut at Mumbai film festival this month

VADODARA: In 2013 the first Gujarati film on gay relationships 'Meghdhanushya' ran into trouble when the Gujarat government called 'homosexuality a social evil' while contesting a Gujarat high court order asking the state to grant entertainment tax exemption to the movie.
Over a decade later, another Gujarati filmmaker has dared to tread the tough path and made a Gujarati film exploring the relationship between two gay boys.
The film titled 'Katla Curry' is set to make a debut at a film festival in Mumbai this month and would later make its way to the OTT platform. Rohit Prajapati, a Vadodara-based filmmaker directed 'Katla Curry' based on love between two young men. The film was shot in a tribal district of central Gujarat.
"The focus of my film is love. Love can happen to anyone. It can happen between a girl and a boy, two boys or two girls. The film is about the feeling of love shared by two boys and how they navigate their emotions in their social setup," explained Prajapati, producer and director of the film.
"One of the boys, Rimal is a fisherman. The other guy Ratan gets caught in his net while fishing in the river. Rimal saves Ratan's life and the former helps him in building a small makeshift house near the river. They both meet regularly and fall in love," Prajapati, 31 told TOI.
"Ratan is a vegetarian but he learns to make 'Katla Curry' (a fish preparation) for Rimal who loves the dish. Under social pressure, Rimal gets married to a girl and the film takes an interesting turn. We shot the entire film with nine crew members," he revealed. Interestingly, when Prajapati decided to make this 110-minute film, his intention wasn't about taking up the LGBTQ subject but just to portray a different love story.
After the film festival, he is considering taking the film to theatres as well. When asked if he is apprehensive about getting the film certification or about the state government's stance that it adopted during the release of 'Meghdhanushya', Prajapati said, "I hope that I won't face any trouble. A lot of things have changed in the last decade including the IPC 377 being scrapped. I am sure that the audiences will like this film," Prajapati, who runs a theatre group 'Geet Theatre' in Vadodara, said.