Milind Soman Made Me Gay

In 1995, the Indian Government charged Bollywood superstar Milind Soman with “obscenity” for appearing nude in a shoe advertisement. Under the rhetoric of preserving nation’s morality, these charges were carried out using old colonial laws that are still evoked to restrict desire and persecute LGBTQ+ people in India.

Milind Soman Made Me Gay is a conceptual documentary about desire and notions of home and belonging. The film employs a unique mix of visual elements along with voice over narration to juxtapose memories of the filmmaker’s past against stories of three gay South Asian men living in the diaspora. Overshadowing these nostalgic explorations of life “back home,” are harsh realities of homophobia and racism in America and an ongoing struggle to find a place of belonging.