It’s not easy to pull off the portrayal of a gay man in a world that’s getting used to people coming out of the closet. Many performers have attempted the challenge, but it takes a great actor to deliver a well-rounded and believable performance.
On the occasion of Pride month, we bring you a lesser-known fact. Much before the decriminalisation of Section 377 and before mainstream actors such as Rajkummar Rao and Fawad Khan played the role of homosexuality characters, an actor broke barriers by headlining the role of a gay man in a feature film. Guess who? It’s Dibyendu Bhattacharya!
Yes, in an era, in which homosexuality was considered illegal, Bhattacharya played the role of a gay cop in ‘Divya Drishti’ (2002), directed by Sidharth Srinivasa. It was awarded Best Film at the International Digital Film Festival in New Delhi. The Dibyendu-starrer marked one of the first times that a narrative of a film was centred on a homosexual character. He played the role of a gay person in the second half of the film and garnered appreciation and awards, however the film was banned by the government.
He is known for ‘Black Friday’ (2004), ‘Dev.D’ (2009), ‘Section 375’ (2019), ‘Jamtara’ (2020), ‘Undekhi’ (2020), ‘Ray’ (2021) and ‘Rocket Boys’ (2022) to name a few. Dibyendu has a slate or interesting projects lined up in coming months including ‘Khuda Haafiz Chapter 2’ releasing on 8th July.
