Gay spin for Sherlock Holmes

Aquiline nose, elongated face, and a logic that’s impossible to fault – Sherlock Holmes is getting a makeover in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. With Robert Downey Jr. playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective and Jude Law bringing a lean look to the formerly podgy celluloid Dr. Watson, posters of Ritchie’s film suggest a mismatch. Wouldn’t Law, with his clipped British accent and slim, calculating appearance make a better Holmes? Also, can an American Downey Jr. convince fans that he is, indeed, the Brit super-sleuth?

And then, there’s the gay angle. Buzz has it that there’s a homosexual strain to the Holmes-Watson relationship. Downey Jr. has reportedly let out that the detective will sleep with and have sweaty grappling scenes with his sidekick Watson, in Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes that releases this Christmas.

“We're two men who happen to be roommates, wrestle a lot and share a bed,” Downey Jr. reportedly told Britain’s News of the World. Law, added, “Guy wanted to make this about the relationship between Watson and Holmes. They're both mean and complicated.”

Gay rights activist Anindya Hajra wonders if portraying Holmes and Watson as gay is necessary. “It sounds slightly odd,” he admits. “I don’t think Doyle intended Holmes to be seen as gay. In fact, one automatically assumes heterosexuality when reading the old Sherlock Holmes stories.” But IT employee Arkadeb Bhattacharya argues that stories like A Scandal in Bohemia are suggestive of a homosexual element. “Recently, I’ve been re-reading the stories, and with Section 377 colouring the mind, Holmes-Watson come across as somewhat gay,” he says.

There have long been talks of Holmes being gay. The absence of any female love interest, apart from a solitary Irene Adler, has fuelled discussions. But asexuality isn’t sufficient reason to assume a homosexual angle, reasons content writer Shreya Banerjee. “The absence of sexual tones shouldn’t be taken to suggest that Holmes is closeted. A perspective like this appears only when there is dearth of artistic inspiration,” she fumes.

Responding to talk of the gay element in Ritchie’s film, former New York Post film critic Michael Medved had declared, “I think they're just trying to generate controversy . . . They know that making Holmes and Watson homosexual will take away two-thirds of their box office. Who is going to want to see Downey Jr. and Law make out? I don't think it would be appealing to women. Straight men don't want to see it.”

But this buzz should increase curiosity about the film in Kolkata. Contrary to Medved’s apprehensions about the movie, Kolkatans may not be as repulsed by a Sherlock Holmes adventure with homosexual undertones. “With something as popular as Sherlock Holmes, a unique director’s perspective is required. And if Ritchie wants to introduce the gay angle, why not?” asks fashion designer Ritika Banerjee. She reasons that when two men are as inseparable as Holmes and Watson, some physical tension is inevitable.

“When Batman and Robin can be thought of as gay, why not Holmes and Watson?” asks Arkadeb. As the bromance picks up pace, more of our untouched heroes could get homosexual interpretations. In the meanwhile, it’s time to wait and watch till Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes hits theatres this Christmas. Will this Holmes make box office collections look gay?

Shifting focus from Hollywood to Tollywood, shooting is on for Anjan Dutt’s celluloid adaptation of Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay’s famous detective Byomkesh Bakshi. Perhaps the Bengali filmmaker will take a few leafs out of Guy Ritchie’s book and add a gay strain to Byomkesh and Ajit’s relationship as well.


ilovekolkata
(With ANI inputs)