Director: Kamal Amrohi
Duration: 00:01:48; Aspect Ratio: 1.222:1; Hue: 270.388; Saturation: 0.055; Lightness: 0.206; Volume: 0.148; Cuts per Minute: 4.420; Words per Minute: 64.088
Summary: A clip from the film Razia Sultan (1983) directed by Kamal Amrohi. The scene in this film that is often read through a queer lens is unfortunately not available on most DVD versions of the film. This clip is of a suitor pursuing Razia Sultan, and shows the intimate friendship between two women.
During a song sequence in the film, Razia is on a boat with a woman, bemoaning that her lover is too far away. The implied queer erotics of this scene are because the two women deliciously dissapear behind a large white feather. The song is
Khwab banke koi aaega.
This clip is part of the Queering Bollywood database, an exhibition and demonstration of a collection of queer readings of Indian cinema. This open and collaborative database of articles, film clips, magazine stories, etc., has been compiled by Namita Malhotra, Lawrence Liang and many others at Alternative Law Forum and in Bangalore. For more, see
http://media.opencultures.net/queer/
Andréa de Keijzer, Montréal, Canada: ...en op wiens lichaam vele wonden van opoffering kan worden gerekend. (Dutch)
Andréa is always so fierce and kind. The best part of our session was the moment when her plumber came to repair the toilet and she switched into fluent Spanish to talk to him.
Diana's positive attitude made all my mistakes seem like nothing.
Laura Taler, Ottawa, Canada: ...și pe al cărui corp multe răni de sacrificiu pot fi socotite. (Romanian)
Laura's session was jovial. I think she was unimpressed with my bad ear for tone. But, ever stalwart, she trudged through with excellent diction and loads of patience. Listen:
https://pad.ma/DVX/player/
Nasrin picked French because it isn't a language she knows very well. She got help with both the translation and the pronunciation. We had a lot of fun trying to speak this challenging text together.
Sharlene wanted to teach me both Urdu and Gudrati - or, "Gujdu" as she put it. There was some English mixed in there too. I thought it would be great to take the phrase full circle around the diaspora. It's origins in 1983 Urdu, fast forward to 2014 Toronto/Brampton style Gujdu. Still working on my "par" and "thasay".
Suitor:... and on whose body are the wounds of sacrifice most reckoned.
Alize's session in Turkish was epic. It went in all kinds of directions, all of them perfectly relevant. The highlight occurred when her mom came into the room and they casually discussed the poetics of this particular translation.
Diana Younes, Toronto, Canada: ...وعلى جسدهِ جروحُ التضحيةِ تُحتَسَبُ (Arabic)
lesbian
Nasrin Himada, Montréal, Canada: ...le corps sur lequel de nombreuses blessures sacrificielles peuvent être recensées. (French)
period film
queer
sultan
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