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PRIDE EVENT : Ek Madhavbaug & Dancing Queens January 24, 2011

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QUEER AZAADI MUMBAI

ON THE EVE OF REPUBLIC DAY


PRESENTS

A UNIQUE OPPURTUNITY FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY TO COME TOGETHER

Make Posters for the PRIDE WALK:  5PM TO 6.15 PM

Watch the soul stirring performance reading of

Chetan Datar’s celebrated play

‘Ek Madhavbaug’ : 6.30 PM by Mona Ambegaonkar


( Bring your Mom and Dad along if you want them to understand you better )

AND

Dance with Dancing Queens -7.30pm onwards

SNDT UNIVERSITY CAMPUS AUDITORIUM

Santacruz West

Juhu Tara Road

Mumbai 400049

26th January 2011

5pm to 9pm

This is a fund raiser for the Pride Walk

Donation cards of Rs. 150/- will be available at the venue 4pm onwards

All donations received will be used for meeting expenses of the Pride Walk

Forward this message to your friends and friends of your friends and their friends

(STRAIGHTS ARE WELCOME: WE DO NOT DISCRIMINATE AGAINST STRAIGHTS)

For Prior Bookings Contact


The Auditorium has only 125  seats

Acknowledgements

Cost of setting up the event is borne by The Humsafar Trust and Bombay Dost

&

LABIA team for organizing the Venue and Dancing Queens for being part of the event.

68 Pages DVD now available ONLINE in INDIA March 22, 2009

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!!!EXCITING NEWS !!!

Order ONLINE in INDIA
Our DVDs are now just a click away
through Syncline
Please visit the film site to read more:

——————————————————————

You can also order Gulabi Aaina at this link –

 

68 Pages DVDs released on Amazon September 30, 2008

Posted by humsafar in 68 pages, counselor, film on HIV/AIDS, gay film transsexual film HIV?AIDS film 68 pages film, HIV/AIDS, humsafar trust, Humsafar Trust Gay India TG Transgender MSM Indian-gay,, sridhar rangayan, Uncategorized.
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Buy DVDs of film 68 Pages on Amazon

Buy DVDs of film 68 Pages on Amazon

68 Pages DVDs released on Amazon:
You can buy DVDs of 68 pages alongwith Bonus Features that includes 4 other queer short films on Amazon. Safe & secure transaction. Free shipping. Click here : http://astore.amazon.com/solarisp-20

In India, DVDs can be purchased in over 10 cities – Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Mandya, Rajkot, Surat, Pune and Nagpur. Please check www.humsafar.org/68pages/dvd.htm for more details.

68 Pages storms small town in Karnataka September 30, 2008

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Film 68 Pages screened at 5 venues in Bangalore & Mandya (Karnataka) last fortnight, organized in association with Sangama, Good As You, Alternative Law Forum, Pedestrian Pictures, Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society, PES College and Rotary Club Mandya, attracting more than 1500 people that included government officials, health agencies, lawyers, film buffs, LGBT people, students and even housewives. It also aroused a lot of interest in the local press even in a small city like Mandya where for the first time the conservative local newspapers headlined issues like HIV, AIDS and homosexuality.
 

Reaching even to small cities like Mandya, where it screened last week to a packed hall of over 600 people, it not only drew appreciation but also a long discussion about the issues in the film. Speaking at the screening Shri Manjunath Prasad, Project Director, Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS), urged people to be aware and advocate on these issues. He said it is very important that people in even small towns understand that HIV is not an epidemic restricted to cities and they too should take care.

“I was overwhelmed by the screening in my home town”, says Sridhar Rangayan, the director of the film who was born in Mandya. “In such a conservative town, it was encouraging to see so many people in the audience willing to listen and discuss. Especially when the film screened at the local PES college, the girl students were even bold enough to ask about homosexuality and gender issues. I think it is necessary to awaken and question dogmatic beliefs and value systems”, says Rangayan.

The screening in Bangalore was hosted by Pedestrian Pictures, Good as You and Alternative Law Forum alongwith the film ‘Love in the times of AIDS’ by Deepa Dhanraj in a double bill of queer films that intended to create awareness about homosexuals and the AIDS epidemic.

Rangayan said he hoped that the film raises social conscience about people living with HIV and removing stigma and discrimination. “I hope that this will become a movement to mainstream and integrate sexual minorities”, says Rangayan.

Slideshow: 68 Pages storms Karnataka

DVDs of film 68 Pages July 18, 2008

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68 Pages DVD

68 Pages DVD

 

68 Pages

DVDs of the film can now be bought or ordered from the following organizations:

MUMBAI

The Humsafar Trust
3rd Floor, BMC Transit Building,
Nehru Road, Vakola,
Santacruz East,
Mumbai 400050, INDIA
phone: +91.22. 26673800
email: 68pages@gmail.com

DELHI

Magic Lantern Foundation
J-1881, Chittaranjan Park, Basement,
New Delhi – 110019, INDIA
Ph: 011-26273244
magiclantern.foundation@gmail.com
 

Kriti Film Club
S-35, Tara Apartments,
Alaknanda, New Delhi 110019, INDIA
Ph: 011-26477845/ 26213088
space@krititeam.org 


KOLKATA

SAATHII
Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India
229 Kalitala Main Road, Purbachal (North)
Calcutta 700 078, West Bengal, INDIA
91 33 2334 7329
saathii@yahoo.com

For more information and ordering online please check out www.humsafar.org/68pages/dvd.htm 

We welcome partner agencies in other cities who can stock DVDs of the film and help in local sales.

Indian Express Delhi July 5, 2008

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 Capital witnesses Pride walk, but 68 Pages of anguish gets no hearing

– by Paromita Chakrobarty

Posted online: Friday , July 04, 2008 at 11:54:39
Updated: Friday , July 04, 2008 at 11:54:39

New Delhi, July 3 Director Sridhar Rangayan’s award-winning movie on HIV-affected gays finds no hall for screening

On June 29, as Delhi’s saw its first Rainbow Pride March, Sridhar Rangayan was busy trying to organise shows for his latest film, 68 Pages.

Like his previous two films, 68 Pages deals with issues close to Rangayan’s heart — lives of MSMs (men who have sex with men) who have been infected with HIV.

“But for all the hullabaloo about increased awareness about gays, educated urban heterosexuals are still scared to show empathy. There is no aggressive homophobia, but no support either,” shrugs the 45-year-old human rights activist.

Rangayan has reasons to believe so.

His film, which won the Silver Remi at the Houston World Fest earlier this year, is yet to be released in India as no mainstream distributor has come forward to screen it.

“When I made the film, I tried my best to stick to the narrative mode, so the audience could connect with it even if the subject was unfamiliar. But when I met the distributors, I realised it did not matter. They all refused to screen it on ground that a film on homosexuality which talks about AIDS, is not going to bring them any audience,” he says.

In Delhi alone, Rangayan had got in touch with all major multiplex owners, but the experience, he says, has left him rather sceptical.

“The PVR authorities did not respond for the longest time. Finally, when I sent them a rather curt mail, they replied that it did not quite fit even their corporate social responsibility profile.”

68 Pages deals with the lives of five HIV positive individuals — a trans-sexual bar dancer, a gay couple, a sex worker and a drug user — each grappling to come to terms with their own lives.

The story is a narrative from the personal diary of a counsellor who worked with them.

But instead of a bleak, oblique narrative, Rangayan has focussed on the idea of hope and redemption.

He drew his inspiration from the first woman counsellor who worked at his NGO, Humsafar Trust, in Mumbai, one of India’s first organisations to work with sexual minorities. Humsafar Trust is also the co-producer of the film.

The IIT Mumbai alumnus, who has worked with directors like Kalpana Lajmi, Sai Paranjape among others, is now distributing the film via the NGO route.

Humsafar Trust and their associates have come forward to hold a 12-city promotion tour, which includes Mumbai, Baroda, Nagpur, Indore, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore.

“We are going to show at auditoriums and hold discussion sessions afterwards, so there is a dialogue. That’s the only way to clear misconceptions,” he says.

In Delhi, Rangayan has found support in Gargi Sen’s Magic Lantern Foundation, an NGO which distributes non-commercial films.

A screening will be held on July 10 at the India International Centre. Naz Foundation, an NGO as well as Kriti, a city-based film club, too are organising screening. Rangayan is also planning to bring out DVDs of the movie.

All these, the director, says, are a small step towards their ultimate goal.

“It’s not just Article 377 which needs amendment. There’s still a long way to go before people’s mindset about alternative sexuality changes,” he says.

Telegraph Kolkata July 5, 2008

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Telegraph Kolkata
Telegraph Kolkata
Queer crash
westside view

Telegraph, Kolkata, July 1 2008
Interconnected stories of sexual minorities, born in a city that doesn’t have time to connect
 
 

The usual romances of Bollywood were turned on their head at a screening in Calcutta on Saturday — thanks in part to British funding. A new film, backed by the British Department for International Development (DFID), uses all the usual tropes of the Bollywood blockbuster: song, dance and close-up-spangled drama. But this time it is not a boy-meets-girl scenario. Here the lovers are transsexuals, bar dancers, prostitutes and a gay couple — and their tragedies are based on the real-life stories of those facing HIV in Mumbai.

68 Pages is directed by Sridhar Rangayan — who, I should declare, directed me in another gay film with British funding, Yours Emotionally!. But while Yours Emotionally! was in English and aimed primarily at an international film festival audience, 68 Pages is in Hindi and sloshing with plenty of Bolly thrills and spills. Sridhar has a different audience in mind.

“It is for a mainstream grassroots audience,” Sridhar tells me on the phone, after the Saturday screening. “We felt that we wanted to help change their way of looking at sexual minorities. DFID UK had a programme running in India which was doing advocacy work on HIV AIDS — and they wanted to do a film on the situation here.”

Looking at its assemblage of unusual characters — who are based on the stories of real-life friends of the Mumbai sexual health organisation, The Humsafar Trust — the film charts lives riddled with trauma, happiness and hope. It examines people who, stuck with HIV, are marginalised.

“This is a Bombay that we didn’t know of,” says Sridhar. “It’s the one we never stopped to think about it. It’s about interconnected stories of people in a city who don’t have time to connect.” He talks about the Oscar-winning movie Crash — the one which pipped Brokeback Mountain to take Best Film in tinsel town last year — even calling his film a “queer Crash”. His reasoning: it deals with HIV and sexuality where Crash dealt with race, through the lens of a city. “It is a Mumbai version of LA — we do not connect with the people around us,” Sridhar explains.

Did Calcutta connect? Speaking after the screening, perhaps unsurprisingly, Sridhar’s answer was yes. People had been crying and gasped through the film, he said. “Though the film is treated in a very melodramatic format, the characters are real. It could be about somebody right in the area you are living — a transsexual person that you never tried to understand.” The screening was part of Calcutta’s Rainbow Pride week, which culminated in a parade on Sunday.

While some gay rights activists may be cursing Britain for having ever brought the infamous section 377 to India, Shah Rukh Khan had nothing but praise for London this week. Visiting the British capital for social engagements, he found time to tell London reporter Anil Sinanan: “I say it as a joke to everyone that when the English left India, we were not going to let them go! It [London] is the greatest city in the world. It feels like an extension of middle-class Mumbai.” Home from home then? Maybe it’s the red buses that do it.

Jack Lamport
(A writer and part-time actor based in London)

Time Out Mumbai July 5, 2008

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Umrao

Umrao

 

From male Rekha imitators to gay executives, director Sridhar Rangayan has depicted a range of homosexual exeperiences in his films. 68 Pages is his third movie after Gulabi Aaina, about drag queens, and Yours Emotionally!, about a gay affair   British tourist and an Indian male. Rangayan’s new feature, 68 Pages, is about the lives of five HIV-positive individuals as told by counselor (Mouli Ganguly). The stories are of corporate employee Nishit (Zafar Karachiwala), prostitute Payal (Jayati Bhatia), transsexual bar dancer Umrao (Uday Sonawane), gay researcher Kiran (Joy Sengupta) and municipal sweeper Nathu (Abhay Kulkarni). The storytelling style is as basic as the aesthetics, but some episodes are moving, especially those of Umrao and Payal. 68 Pages is scheduled to be screened on June 26 at a city multiplex. A DVD release is also planned.

68 pages – Website May 2, 2008

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We have a new WEBSITE.
http://www.humsafar.org/68pages.htm
Check out Trailers, Song, Audience Reactions and a lot more!

Go on, browse around and let us hear your feedback.
Cheers and stay tuned.

 

Screening for Donor agencies and NGOs October 27, 2007

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Date: 11th October, 2007 Venue: Juhu Jagruti Hall

An exclusive screening of the film was held at Juhu Jagruti Hall, NMIMS for the staff members of donor agencies and partner NGOs/CBOs. There were representatives from MDACS, Avert Society, FHI, FPAI and SOSVA.

After the screening the audience gave a standing ovation to the film and its entire team. Sanjeev Jain said “bravo we all are speechless”, Sanjeev Gaikwad said “After a long time I have cried watching a film, it really hits”. After the screening most of the audiences were moist eyed. Uma Mehta said that she is highly touched with the line at the end that says “a warm salute to all counselors”.

Most of them felt that each character was well established and leave a mark at the end. Vivek Anand, CEO Humsafar, informed everyone that this film will also be used as a tool to supplement the efforts of NACP III as an advocacy tool to sensitize on the issues of MSM/TG.

All the counselors who came for the screening felt that this movie should not be limited to NGO/CBO it should be watched by everyone in the society as the message in the movie needs to be reached out, so that we more students would like to make their career in counseling. Most of the counselors felt this movie can also help to understand the MSM/TG issues and how to counsel them. This movie should be used by SACS and other funding agencies in their trainings for counselors.

Some comments –

Please accept my congratulations for a landmark film produced by the Humsafar trust. The deeply touching way in which the film spools out and the characters bring to life real issues being faced by people, the human dimensions, the message of hope and the way it leaves you moved, yet hopeful at the end is beyond description. Excellent script, direction, casting, performances, research and topicality have been blended effectively.
Dr.Sanjeev Singh Gaekwad
Director – Maharashtra, Family Health International

Very sensitively made, realistic in it’s portrayal and true to the emotions that exist in such situations. Each story was well defined with equal emphasis given to the central and supporting characters. Strongly brought out the complex circumstances that HIV/AIDS brings into individual’s lives as well as the turmoil of learning one’s HIV positive status. The film beautifully showed a relationship between 2 men as it truly is and most importantly, without sensationalization which will make general viewers more open. You leave the film with an understanding of the issues involved but with a clear sense of hope
Amrita Bhende
Programme Officer, Family Health International

It was indeed a wonderful film depicting the vital role of a counselor in HIV testing of clients and further providing psychological support to those found positive. The film truly illustrated how a counselor goes beyond her/ his duty and becomes a friend-in-need to those who are rejected or have fear of rejection by the society. I think the film will not just be praised by NGO sector or marginalized communities but will definitely be liked by general people as well. One small point that I felt was not correctly portrayed was that the Counselor tells Nishit (drug addict) that his HIV test was done from a reliable lab by his company (that means one test had confirmed his HIV positive status). I think it would have been better to suggest him to go for second test to confirm his HIV positive status.
Anjali Singh
Training Officer, Family Health International

Let me first thank you for inviting us for the special screening of 68 pages. Personally after ages I have seen a film that touches a chord in my soul. I was deeply touched by the sensitivities in the film and the near perfect portrayal of characters by the mainstream actors. Technically your team has done a fantastic job and though this film being a narrative, it had all the ingredients of captivating the audience, and I was not an exception. For me this wasn’t just another viewing of a film but an experience that I would always cherish.

Being from a public health background, I cannot overemphasize the importance of a counselor’s role in shaping up lives of million people around you. And I am glad this film has provided a platform and given due respect to the breed of counselors which they have always deserved but were the unsung heroes of the medical fraternity.

This is also an eye opener for counselors, health care providers and the general population that a counselor if decides to perform the job expected out of them, they can provide million reasons for people to live with hope and dignity.

Counseling is much more than just providing health information or a basket of choices but its more about swapping the position of a counselor and a counselee to understand the emotional turmoil a beneficiary can be in. It’s not just a scratch of the skin talk but getting emotionally involved with the clients and making them feel that they are also an integral part of the society and providing reasons for them to be proud of.

Sridhar has done a fabulous job and have shown great courage in touching a subject which has always been a taboo. I hope this film will go a long way in educating masses and dispelling their fear regarding sero – positive people and help in reducing discrimination.

…………… breathtaking, captivating, motivating emotional saga is my only reaction to 68 Pages.

Well done. Cheers!!!!!!
Dr.Sachin Gupte
Senior Technical Officer, Family Health International

 

As an M & E person I must first commend the hard work the counselor who has documented all her valuable experience which provides rich data for further learning. I keep introducing myself to many people as an M & E officer who loves to “Speak to data”. Here is an example how a “data can speak for itself” and can make world of difference in lives of many. This is greatest respect for all the counselor who are working hard for making difference in the lives of many vulnerable population. According to me counselor position in HIV prevention and care and support programme is most crucial but has a factor of burnout. This is a real motivator for all those who are putting a lot of work.

Kudos to humsafar team which has worked hard under your leadership and not to forget the film crew under the leadership of Sreedhar in making this a truly memorable experience for all of us.
Virupax Ranebennur
M & E Officer, Family Health International

 

Thank you for using your very creative brain and bringing out the raw realities of life with a clear light of hope that life does not stop here it goes on and the dreams can be accomplished.

My next request will be that please look at the various sources of taking this forward to the larger masses, forums, civil societies and the 2% Decision makers, that we need to do things urgently with zeal and dedication.

It seems that I am exhausted with my limited knowledge of words to describe the penetration and impact of the film on me. I am still speechless and in discomfort.

May God bless you and the whole team for the quality research, the story and the planning.
Sanjeev Jain
Senior Programme Manager, Family Health International

 

Thank you for such a excellent film. I think the Counselors should learn few things through this film. One is that the Counselor in the film balanced her personal and professional life well. At times when she was going through her emotional problem, she never became weak nor did she make her clients become weak. Thanks again for a very good film.
Ashish Bosle
Programme Officer, FHI/FPAI Aastha Project

 

The Film was brilliant! Issues have been dealt with such sensitivity and depth. This film should definitely become ‘compulsory’ viewing in all counseling and HIV/AIDS related training programs.

I sincerely hope that you are able to get a commercial release. Wishing you and the HST team the very best …always.
Amita
Senior Project Manager, FHI/FPAI Aastha Project

 

Thanks for the screening. Great Work! The movie inspires us to do more. Its all about how our efforts and gestures can bring a change in others’ life. I was touched. Congrats to the team.
Seema Sayyed
Programme Officer, FPA India, Aastha Project

 

The film is wonderful, which will touch the heart of everyone. It is a very powerful film.
Swati Mohapatra
IEC/BCC Coordinator, Avert Society

“In short time lots of issues covered. Also helped to accept those who are not accepted by others. Great movie.”
Pradnya Kharate | Technical Officer, SOSVA

“It is excellent movie, which I seen first time, Good for everything.”
Pramod Shinde | Project Coordinator, NSVK

“Excellent movie, I really enjoyed. It touched to my heart, all the best.”
Rukpali Goswami | Counselor, CDI

“Excellent. Life changing, attitude changing towards High Risk Groups. It should published to all the communities. It should released in theaters”
Gaikwad | Project Coordinator, Hope Foundation

“The movie was great, I want to give suggestion to you, if possible to put one meeting for all counselors and show this film to them. Great movie”
Jyoti Kasbe | Counselor, Lokparishad

“One of the most wonderful film.”
Pramod |Humsaaya

“A good film, which can be used to sensitize the mass about HIV issues. Good work”
Rama Bhave |Documentation Officer, Family Health International

“Thanks for providing such a good looking face, as a counselor. After watching the movie, I am realizing the responsibility.”
Shabana Sheikh | Counselor, SAI

“Today I think, How I am.”
Prashant B. Shirsath | Advocacy Officer, CORO

“Excellent Movie, A must see for the masses.”
Dr. Vidyamala | Technical Officer, Family Health International

“Good work done by research team as well as crew members, casting in film. It made us feel so touchy and we all were speechless”
Riji Nair | Programme Officer, Family Planning Association of India-Aastha Project

“It is just excellent movie. The best part is counselor’s role and the song.”
Sachin R Katlear | Project Coordinator, NSP

“Excellent Movie”
Aashish A Sabale | Advocacy Officer, SAI