Ram Kamal Mukherjee's film on LGBTQ+, with Celina Jaitley, Lillete Dubey, to be endorsed by UN

A Tribute to Rituparno Ghosh: Season’s Greetings, a film directed by Ram Kamal Mukherjee, has become the first film to be backed by United Nations’ Free and Equal campaign, reports Mumbai Mirror. The initiative is aimed towards raising awareness against homophobic and transphobic violence and intolerance. The film will be screened across the world. Mukherjee began the film with the intention of acquainting commercial audiences with Rituparno’s works, and he says that the issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community automatically became part of his film. Right before the shooting could commence, the Supreme Court abolished the archaic Section 377 on 6 September, 2018. As Rituparno Ghosh was one of the most passionate supporters and an aware representative of the community, it became imperative to include that section in the film. Fifth September is a crucial date in the film, states the filmmaker. [caption id=“attachment_7129361” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Celina Jaitley (right) and Lillete Dubey. Images from Twitter[/caption] Mukherjee also reveals that after his actors’, Celina Jaitley and Lillete Dubey’s bidding, Ram was enthused enough to take the film to the UN. The filmmaker also says that he was initially reluctant since he thought that his narrative would be difficult to relate to but was surprised by the positive reactions. “Changing attitudes is never easy but it has happened on other issues and it is happening already in many parts of the world on this one. With the UN coming on board as a social partner, we are hoping this film will strike a chord globally," the publication quotes Celina (who has been a vocal advocate of LGBTQ+ rights) as saying. The feature also marks the screen debut of transgender actor Shree Ghatak. Ram chips in on whether it was a conscious decision on his part to include Shree, saying that he had wished for an established actor to play the role but every actor was hesitant to play a transgender on screen. Despite Celina and Lillete’s concern about bringing in a non-actor for the part, Ram says he decided to take the leap of faith, and is quite happy with its consequences.