Girl Friend
in
Cinema Hall
THE END
Two women Tania (Ishaa Koppikar) and Sapna (Amrita Arora). Man Armaan (Ashish Chaudhary). And perhaps, a proverbial ‘love triangle’ film.
Except, the common object of affection in this triangle is not the man. But the woman, who has an obsessed girlfriend.
Mentions Razdan, on his run-of-the-mill relationship subject turned on its head, Isha’s character in the film is a lesbian. She has no male love interest and is physically attracted to her girlfriend in a subtle manner. The attraction turns obsessive gradually.”
As for Koppikar, who plays the title role, albeit fixated on the protagonist of the same sex, she says, I wouldn’t like to describe my character as homosexual because the term denotes a sexual relationship, which the film does not openly portray.
"Women are usually more physical in companionships than men in any case. However, the attraction between my character and Amrita’s is definitely more physical than what one encounters in a usual boy-boy or girl-girl friendship. There is a thin line between the ‘physical’ and the ‘sexual’ and the film tries to stay within those limits.
And how does Razdan establish that the rapport shared between his two female leads is physical as against sexual in the film? We have scenes where Isha imagines being held or caressed by Amrita, replies the director, who in the past has written films like Harry Baweja’s Dilwale, Diljale and Deewane and Shekhar Kapur’s shelved Time Machine.
This film with a plot centred on lesbian encounters, had opened in theatres to face the wrath of certain unhappy hoodlums. In Girlfriend , which far from raising the hackles of homosexuals, has Shiv Sainik goons up in arms. They want it banned for its lesbian theme, saying it goes against the dignity of women.
This could explain the filmmaker’s reluctance to overtly admit that his film explores lesbian attraction in the context of mainstream cinema. As he hastens to add, Eventually, the two women don’t become lovers, because Amrita’s character is ‘straight’.