about donno Y naa jaane kyun!!!

1. Nitin Kumar
With air travellers having to
shell out as much for domes-
tic flights as international
travel they are wondering
whether taking them for a
ride is acquiring a complete-
ly different meaning.
Bhawana Shukla, a con-
sultant and a frequent-flyer,
thinks that charging people
a ransom is unfair. “Low-cost
airlines should stay true to
their name under all circum-
stances. As a consumer I feel
that they should regulate tick-
er prices,” says Shukla.
Vikas Jain, a businessman,
has to travel all over the coun-
try and says he never has had
to pay a ransom for air-tick-
ets. “I always make sure my
tickets are booked in advance.
But, the authorities should
look into the issue and see
that people are not taken for
a ride,” says Jain.
Richa Seth, a reputation
manager, feels very strongly
on the issue and thinks that
the airlines need to cater to
them common man too. “Why
should the aam janta
have to pay so much? Gov-
ernment should reduce the
taxes if there is no other way
to reduce ticket price,” sug-
gests Seth.
D Sudhakara Reddy, na-
tional president of the Asso-
ciation of Air Passengers of
India, however says that the
airlines do not intentionally
charge the passengers such
rates. The costs are based on
demand and supply. “The air
fares are decided by a soft-
ware called yield manage-
ment. It takes into account
the time, date, number of seat
available before deciding the
price of tickets.”
MUMBAI | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2010
www.dnaindia.com | epaper.dnaindia.com 6SPEAK UP
Shabana Ansari
Undeterred by dismal
reviews and poor box office
collections, the Dunno Y...Na
Jaane Kyun team is trying to
take its film to as many
people as it can. A special
screening was held for the
gay community at a Juhu
multiplex late on Tuesday
night. The event was
attended by prominent mem-
bers including gay rights ac-
tivist Prince Manvendra
Singh Gohil.
“Popular media has the
power to influence mindsets.
A film which portrays the gay
community and its issues re-
alistically is indeed com-
mendable,” Gohil told DNA.
Pointing out that society
and the film industry still has
a long way to go when it
comes to sensitivity towards
issues pertaining to homo-
sexuality, the Prince added
that the process of
change seems to have begun.
“It will be a long and slow
journey for the community
but at least the first
steps have been taken,” he
added.
Meanwhile, a few multi-
plexes in the city, including
Cinemax and Fun Cinemas,
have refused to screen the
controversial film. “They
said that that the homosexu-
al content was inappropriate
for their family audiences.
Others who decided to screen
the movie gave it only one slot
during the day,” lead actor
Kapil Sharma said.
Sources at Cinemax and
Fun Cinemas confirmed
that they did not want to
screen the film since it was
“too explicit”. However, PVR
Juhu, where the film is cur-
rently running, has decided
to increase the number of
shows. “We’ve had nearly
80 % occupancy since the
film was released a few days
ago. Hence, we decided to
add a late night show to make
it convenient for audiences,”
a PVR official said.
Though the Censor Board
has made sure that the film
was passed only after several
love scenes were deleted,
Dunno Y… Na Jaane Kyun
was able to retain a smooch
and several intimate scenes
between Sharma and the oth-
er lead actor, Yuvraaj
Parashar. “It was uncomfort-
able getting intimate with an-
other man on screen but I am
glad we didn’t let our
awkwardness get into the
way of making India’s first
gay love story,” said Parashar
who had a fallout with his
family when his parents
learnt that he was playing a
homosexual character in his
debut film.
Sharma claims that
despite the controversies
surrounding it, the film is
fast becoming popular in gay
circles. “There are mass
messages and emails being
circulated by those who have
seen and liked the movie. A
lot of gay people are also
urging their straight friends
to watch the film,” he added.
However, the film has few
takers amongst the general
audience in Mumbai. “I only
watched the film because I
wanted to know what the fuss
was all about. But I found it to
be a shoddy product with bad
acting and absurd dialogues,”
said Suhana Sharma, a cine-
goer.
Ravi Rai, who also went to
see the film out of curiosity,
admits that he did not
enjoy the experience. “There
was just too much tittering
and rude name calling in the
theatre every time an inti-
mate scene flashed on the
screen,” he pointed out.
Will homosexuality come out of
the closet, into the mainstream?
DunnoY…NaJaaneKyunhasreleasedintheatresacrossthecity,butisrunningtoempty
halls.Speak Upfindsoutwhyoursocietyisstillashamedofdiscussingsuchissues
Though more people
are being sensitised
through films, we will
triumph in our quest
when homosexuality is
a secondary issue in a
Hindi film. Imagine a
film has two gay lovers whose parents
are opposing their marriage not
because they belong to the same
gender but but because one is poor
and the other is rich.
Harish Iyer, gay rights activist
Homosexuality should
be a secondary theme
While it is a good thing that
homosexuality is now being talked
about freely in the media, films on
the subject do very little for the
cause of gay rights. A lot of those who
are going to watch Dunno Y...Na
Jaane Kyun are going only for cheap
thrills. It was annoying when there
were catcalls after the gay
protagonist is shown crying into his
pillow.
Naeem Shirazi, call centre employee
and homosexual ‘not out to society’
Such films don’t do
much for gay rights
Mainstream films with
gay content such as
Dunno Y..Na Jaane
Kyun will come into a
lot of criticism from
several quarters and
may even provoke
protest. But the good thing is that
they are opening up room for dialogue
about an issue that is mostly never
discussed in polite conversations.
Manvendra Singh Gohil, gay rights
activist
Will introduce the issue
in daily conversation
Transvestites promote the movie Dunno Y...Na Jaane Kyun at special
screening at PVR Juhu —Pramod Thakur.DNA
STORY SO FAR
> DECEMBER 2002: Naz India filed a
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to
challenge IPC section 377 in the Delhi
High Court
> SEPTEMBER 2006: Nobel laureate
Amartya Sen and acclaimed writer
Vikram Seth came together with
scores of other prominent Indians in
public life to publicly demand this
change in the legal regime
> JUNE 2008: Indian labour minister
Oscar Fernandes backed calls for
decriminalisation of consensual gay
sex, and the prime minister
Manmohan Singh called for greater
tolerance towards homosexuals
> JULY 2008: Bombay High Court judge
Bilal Nazki said that India’s unnatural
sex law should be reviewed
> AUGUST 2008: Anbumani Ramadoss
campaigned for changing ‘Section
377’ of the Indian penal code, which
makes homosexuality an unnatural
act and thus illegal
> JULY 2009: Delhi High Court
decriminalised homosexual
intercourse between consenting
adults
Fill each of the blank boxes with the number grid from 1-9, and the letter grid from A-I with no letters or
numbers repeating in vertical, horizontal rows or 3x 3 grids. Do not repeat any letters in a line. Each
puzzle has only one solution.
How
to
play
sudoku
Download SUDOKU on your mobile for Rs 99 per game. SMS <SDK>to 57575. Only on GPRS WAP
enabled mobile sets.
Meghna Sharma, Nitin Kumar & Aditi Mallya
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team speak up
Low-cost airlines: Is
that an oxymoron?
IEXPERT VIEWI
Airlines are
charging ten
times higher
price which
is quite un-
fair. People
who book
tickets at the
eleventh hour may be doing
so because of some kind of
emergency. Hence, this is
sheer exploitation on the
airline’s part. The govern-
ment needs to intervene and
look into the matter. Fixing
a maximum price for a tick-
et might help. People have to
raise their voice to get this
done. The consumers who
have been charged a huge
sum for their last-minute
bookings should complain
to the Aviation authority. If
there is any delay in taking
action then one can use RTI
to know why the complaint
is pending. Officials should
send notices to the airline
companies for this unfair
practice.
—MS Kamath, honourary
secretary, Consumer
Guidance Society of India
It’s exploitation by airlines