Aaja Saiyaan
Rotten Guitars, a Delhi based band, through their song Aaja Saiyaan wants to highlight the discrimination and ostracization of the queer community by self-assigned moralists of the society. The music video tries to point out the difficulties faced by queer individuals in their daily lives and the dual lives they are forced to lead.
One cannot characterize love. Unfortunately, in India, queer individuals live in perennial fear of being outed and persecuted by society. Aaja Saiyaan features Anuj Verma, An IIT Delhi graduate and Yogesh Panwar, a seasoned theatre actor, who has been acting in theatre professionally for more than 5 years. The characters in the video choose to meet in remote places where they can be themselves and feel comfortable. The setting is purposefully quite rural to highlight the universality of this issue.
Unfortunately, in India, queer individuals live in perennial fear of being outed and persecuted by society.
Aaja Saiyaan tries to capture different aspects of a gay man’s life. The video does so by juxtaposing two different characters who are quite different in appearance but face similar difficulties. The video also effortlessly debunks the myth that it is not always possible to spot a gay individual just by his appearance.
Though portraying gay characters in reel life, Anuj and Yogesh are heterosexual in real life. Playing gay roles was a challenge for both the actors. Yogesh had to train himself to internalize certain aspects of feminity in him. He learned from his friends in the gay community the essential elements of portraying such a character. Both the actors took some time to get comfortable during the intimate scenes. It was easier to do justice to their roles once they were able to see and address their reasons for inhibitions.
Though portraying gay characters in reel life, Anuj and Yogesh are heterosexual in real life.
Being heterosexual, both actors took a huge risk considering the society we live in. Completely aware of the prevalence of homophobia, both the actors and the entire team understood the cost and importance of raising such an issue. For them, homophobia will be transient and will not matter a lot in the larger scheme of things.
Vinay Rathore the founder of the band has been friends with an individual from the queer community since childhood. Being a close friend he could empathise with him. He decided to do whatever he can to raise this issue in his capacity as a musician.
The band consists of Vinay Rathor as the lead vocalist. Manish Vaidas as the lead guitarist. Yash Tyagi as the bassist and Kunal Maurya as the drummer. Kunal also happens to be the youngest member of the band.
Its a ray of hope to have allies, fight along with the queer community through music, in our quest of seeking acceptance from the judicial system and the society.
Rotten Guitars was founded 2013 and was awarded best-rising band of Delhi in 2015. The band decided to make original compositions by the end of 2015. The band intends to make an impact on the society through music. A detour from the normal stale topics on which songs are written. To know more about them, subscribe them on YouTube