What Bollywood icon's fatherhood says about India's attitude to homosexuality
What Bollywood icon's fatherhood says about India's attitude to homosexuality
- His films have often touched on gay characters and themes, and in his public image, he has riffed on gay jokes, most often directed at himself. Now, with the birth of Yash and Roohi, a boy and a girl, Johar is thought to be the first gay, single man in India to have become a father through surrogacy (and only the second single man; the first was Bollywood actor Tusshar Kapoor). Yet any hopes that Johar’s fatherhood may open up possibilities for the gay community must be tempered; not only does gay sex remain a criminal offence in India, plans are afoot to ban gay men from following Johar’s path to fatherhood.
- His films have often touched on gay characters and themes, and in his public image, he has riffed on gay jokes, most often directed at himself. Now, with the birth of Yash and Roohi, a boy and a girl, Johar is thought to be the first gay, single man in India to have become a father through surrogacy (and only the second single man; the first was Bollywood actor Tusshar Kapoor). Yet any hopes that Johar’s fatherhood may open up possibilities for the gay community must be tempered; not only does gay sex remain a criminal offence in India, plans are afoot to ban gay men from following Johar’s path to fatherhood.