ODDITIES AND CONTROVERSIES

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ODDITIES AND CONTROVERSIES. Cont'd.

UK premiere for Indian drag film

Ramesh Menon and Edwin Fernandes in The Pink Mirror

Photo: The Pink Mirror stars Ramesh Menon and Edwin Fernandes.

"Gay landscape': The film is described as "an exploration of the Indian gay landscape and the tender bonds that exist between drag queens in India who form unique, non-patriarchal families". It is not a 'Bollywood' film per se but uses many of the genre's cliches, including traditional song and dance routines. Rangayan says the film has been banned because it deals with issues that the Censor Board finds uncomfortable. "I felt these characters were not portrayed at all in any cinema in India," he said. "They needed to be given a voice without being ridiculed." Cross-dressing is not an alien concept in the subcontinent. Women were not allowed to act in early Indian films so their roles were played by men. Eunuchs, or 'hijras' - as they are known in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh - have made numerous appearances on screen, and many of Bollywood's top stars - including Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan - have appeared in drag, usually for comic effect. But Rangayan says The Pink Mirror marks the first time drag queens have spoken in Hindi, India's national language. "Usually our films show very westernised images of gay people, which is more acceptable to the censors," he explained. "But in this film the characters speak in a language that is very Indian." 'Social acceptance': The Pink Mirror also touches on the threat that HIV/AIDS poses to the country's gay community. Rangayan believes things are slowly changing in his country. Mumbai recently hosted its first gay and lesbian film festival, and he hopes the censor will reconsider its decision on appeal. "There's a little more visibility than what there used to be a decade ago, but it's still an uphill task to find social acceptance," he said. "In India there's a contract of silence. If it's not visible, it's tolerated." The director plans to make six more films about India's gay community under the collective title Rainbow Stories.

HOWARD STERN VS. OPRAH

The American tabloid magazine reported that on March 18, millions of Americans watched an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, during which an O, The Oprah Magazine writer described in jawdropping detail, the latest fads in teen sex. Viewers learned that a "tossed salad," had little to do with healthy eating, but instead referred to oral sex to the anus. The guest went on to describe "rainbow" parties -- gatherings at which a gaggle of lipstick- wearing girls provide oral sex to one or more males. For this, declares shock jock Howard Stern, 50, Oprah should come under the same scrutiny as he has over his notoriously raunchy broadcasts. Since 1990, the Federal Communications Commission has levied fines, totaling close to $2 million, against Howard's show. And on Feb. 23, Clear Channel Radio -- which had aired Howard's gabfest on six of its stations -- dropped Stern for content it considered "indecent." To prove his point, Howard aired the recent Oprah segment on his radio show March 19 -- only to have WXRK-FM New York station manager Tom Chiusano cut the explicit description. "You bleeped it?" Howard shouted at Chiusano. "But it was on Oprah!" The incident has left Howard fuming because he reportedly believes Oprah, also 50 -- who has discussed sex and featured former porn star Traci Lords in the past -- is beyond reproach. Author Larry Sloman, who collaborated with Stern on his book Private Parts, tells Star: "Howard's show is tame compared to some of the graphic discussions on Oprah. But the FCC doesn't have the guts to take on a black woman who has single-mindedly willed herself an all-American icon." His frustration with the FCC at an all-time high, Stern has threatened to quit radio all-together, or move to satellite radio, which the FCC doesn't regulate. But Oprah's racy segments haven't gone altogether unnoticed. An FCC official, who asked to remain anonymous, tells Star that the government agency has received "a number of complaints" about Oprah's show in recent weeks. Still, that's little consolation for fuming free-speech advocate Howard, who on March 19, told his listeners, "They are never going to fine Oprah because she is the darling of the world!" But Robert Hilliard, co-author of Dirty Discourse: Sex and Indecency in American Radio, tells Star that shows like Oprah's pass muster because they inform, not titillate. One of Oprah's former colleagues adds, "When was the last time Howard did anything good for anybody? Oprah is always doing good things for people."