For an average Indian the existence of the LGBT community is beyond the range of ordinary vision, until s/he is faced with the reality of a near and dear one having a different personal preference. The reactions, caused by sudden departure from emotional and logistic comfort zones, are usually extreme and seldom unbiased. In contrast, my contact with the community has been through an academic friend who one fine day simply declared that he had a different orientation. I think, most of us took this news without much of a shock because there weren't a lot at stake for any of us, personally. Moreover in academia, we habitually get thrown into contact with people from all over India (and beyond) with all kinds of variation of preferences ranging from minor to completely outlandish. A different physiological trait was just another of those natural variations that we, budding scientists, were not going to be really bothered with. In fact, the only consequence of his declaration was to generate a sense of embarrassed awkwardness among other male students about sharing a room with him on observatory trips. However, all this good humour was a reflection of us not being affected by his preferences or actions. The situations tend to be very different in the world outside the closeted community of (apparent) scientific rationality. Moreover, academia too could get downright vengeful and violently against such personal preferences (or use it to hurt a member of the community) when personal/professional advancements were at stake.In fact, the attitude of academia is extremely relevant in the context of this story. The possible reasons why a professor of the Aligarh Muslim University was persecuted might have had more to do with other issues than his preference for intimate companions. The movie raises these relevant questions in a very matter of fact way, without over dramatisation, without directly pointing fingers or making obvious villains out of the people really responsible for the persecution. The portrayal of the sheer apathy of the system, the ignorance and resulting fear/hatred of the common people and the sense of doom and depression that the protagonist slowly descends into is heart-rending. Manoj Bajpayee is, of course, a classic case of criminally unexploited acting potential. His sensitive portrayal of a reclusive, almost shy professor of Sanskrit, caught in the eye of a totally unexpected storm, is decidedly the backbone of this story which would likely go a very long way in changing the outlook of an ordinary Indian about people who just happen to have a different physiology.

Aligarh(2015) I got opportunity to watched this experience on 9/7/2015, which was inspired from true life based story. I must say picture has fabulous narration , direction and acting. as usual Manoj-ji, Rajkumar Rao, Vidhyarti-ji did commendable work and again did justice by enacting the characters maturely. Namita (Dilnaz Irani) added some flavour by her sensuous yet dominating editor :P and other co-actors also did mature acting to do justice with script and direction, Movie to a large extend depicted nervousness,Loneliness,anxiety, insecurity, segregation which Late.Mr.Siras must have faced in dogmatic Aligarh Muslim university Im not a supporter of Gay/Lesbian relation and feel this tend to aggravate loneliness among men/women who get deprived of normally approved Man-Women relation, but still feel each individual has his Choice of getting involve in relation with consent of his partner (may b Man-Man/Woman-Woman) and No religion / Sect / Law should intervene as long as they don't harm others. But still no relation is perfect and individual who involved in Gay/Lesbian relation have there risk in same manner as other Normal relations have. Each society has got its own Pandits/Mulla's/Pops which tend to guide (?) people but still no-one should segregated others who don't follow them. And really like spontaneity of the moment when Siras (Manoj) had to shift to new room where and trying to get ride of Mosquito.I think director, Actors/Actress did justice with Movie, but felt that little more publicity should also have been done to promote the acting

A few years back I watched The Brokeback Mountain. Those who have seen it will surely agree with me that the film did not speak about gay rights or anything remotely related to it. Instead it was a love story where a man instead of falling in love with a woman falls in love with another man. It was a very poignant tale of love; a love that most people failed to comprehend.Aligarh made me feel the same. A common gay man tries to come to terms with after being suddenly forced out of the closet. Unlike Brokeback Mountain, this is based on a real story. But the film is like a poetry, that says a lot and leaves even more unsaid, but has a profound impact on the viewer.Please don't watch this movie if you are expecting anything salacious or controversial. Watch it because when you are old and there is no 377 scare and you see a gay couple pass you by, you would know what they feel like because Professor Siras felt the same.

Not every day in Indian cinema, we got such a realistic portrayal of someone's mind. The film shows the insoluble dilemma of a real life character Dr. Siras of a renowned Aligarh University. The way Mr. Hansal Mehta have shot this film mostly with long takes shows us the loneliness & longevity of the character. The film also puts the light of the mentality of "so called" cultural society of India & the politics of these universities. So special mention to Manoj Bajpayee intense act which have no words of description. It was his bestest of the best performances of his career, probably of his life. He shows the grieves of the character with such a light tone that it looks way deep and realistic. As the film moves, you would crave to know more & more about the character. The bonding between Rajkummar Rao's character Deepu; a young enthusiastic journalist & Dr. Siras has been shown wonderfully; showing us the generation gap been faded away with the want to know the depth of reality of a person & not judging each other presumingly.It has to be seen with an open-mind & heart. One can't realize the other's pain until you'd not been in his shoes. Mind that.