Coming out will be the best thing you'll ever do: Sir Ian Mckellen

Dressed in a bright red t-shirt that literally screamed out, ‘Some people are gay, get over it’, Hollywood actor Sir Ian Mckellen looked every bit the legend he is at the opening ceremony of Kashish MQIFF. While some caught a glimpse of Gandalf, others cheered on for their favourite Magneto as the actor enthralled everyone with his presence and even shared a few candid thoughts on Bollywood, being gay, the bond he shares with India and much more.

Inaugurating the film festival’s 7th edition, the actor appreciated the efforts taken by the festival’s organisers. He explained the relevance of festivals like Kashish and said, “For too many years, gay characters have appeared in films only as comic relief and as often as not meeting a sticky end as if that’s all they deserved. Increasingly, in India too, the film industry has matured and is treating gay people with the same seriousness as straight characters. I look forward to discovering more about Bollywood’s filmmakers who reject fantasy for the truth about gay people.”

He also expressed his support for the gay community and said that nothing could get gay rights more firmly established in India or anywhere else in the world than coming out and being honest in accepting their own sexuality. “Today it might seem a dangerous and foolhardy thing to do, but let me tell you, and every out gay man and woman in the world will tell you that it will be the best thing you ever do in your life.”

He reminisced about his previous experiences in the country and said, “It was five years ago when my best friend asked me to come to India, because his husband is Indian. We came with an ex-boyfriend of mine from New Zealand and we went to Rajasthan. Everywhere we looked, we looked for a gay population. We couldn’t find you because you were hiding in Mumbai,” he said while addressing a roaring crowd.

The opening ceremony was also attended by a host of other celebrities such as Bollywood stars Sonam Kapoor, Kunal Kapoor, and singer Sona Mohapatra among others.

The festival’s theme this year is ‘7 shades of love’ and will present over 182 films from 53 countries. The competing 41 films will be judged by an international jury comprising six members that include national award winning actress Rajeshwari Sachdev, filmmaker Parvathi Balagopalan, theatre director Kaizad Kotwal, television actor Manav Gohil and the chairperson of Bavarian film festivals, Andrea Kuhn. This year’s country in focus is Brazil.