Manoj Bajpayee's Riveting 'Aligarh' Trailer Is Proof Enough That Bollywood Is Breaking Free!

How many homosexual characters do you remember from Bollywood movies? At first, I can't think of much. The first thing that comes to mind is Heath Ledger's Brokeback Mountain. But then I try to focus a bit more, and I am reminded of John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan's pretentious gay act in Dostana, and Rishi Kapoor's funny act as a homosexual professor in SOTY. Or at the most, Suresh Menon, who despite being a tremendous actor, gets only lecherous gay guy roles unfortunately. 

So when has Bollywood taken gay characters seriously? Apparently, never! But things seem to be changing now. At least Manoj Bajpayee's upcoming film Aligarh's trailer proves so!

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Directed by Hansal Mehta (of Shahid fame), Aligarh stars Manoj Bajpayee as a homosexual professor in the city, who has to a pay way too high a price for being homosexual in our unforgiving society. 

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It also stars the talented Rajkumar Rao in a journalist's role, who tries to unravel the professor's story and stand by him.

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What's shocking is that the film is actually based on real events. One Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, a professor in Aligarh Muslim University, was hugely criticised for his sexual orientation. After a sting operation that showed him having sex with a rickshaw puller, he was found dead under mysterious circumstances. Seems like Bollywood has finally come of age, considering it's making movies on such important and sensitive subjects. 

The film is all set to hit theatres on 26th February. And going by the trailer, it will be worth a watch! You can watch it here.