Man becomes God; God becomes man as the dancer swirls in a tempestuous haze of red. But, then again, Theyyam isn’t just a dance, it is worship. So, perhaps, it is only fitting that the latest Sahodaran (an organisation for the rights of sexual minorities) calendar venerates the male form, through a series of images that borrows heavily from the make-up and head-gear of the Theyyam practitioner.
Fashion choreographer Sunil Menon, founder of Sahodaran, says, “The make-up completely changes the way you look and emphasises the beauty of the male body. I love Theyyam and have many books on it.” He says that he travelled deep into the Malabar heartland to identify a make-up artiste from the Theyyam cult to help with the styling for the shoot.
The boys in the calendar are all fresh faces and hail from myriad backgrounds. “They are all South Indians and look it; I wanted that tanned look,” he says. Flipping through a copy of the calendar, he points to the various models showcased in it and asks, “Aren’t they gorgeous? This one is a student, this one is a gym instructor, this one is a daily wage worker.”
The images are spectacular; glossy dark skin, dramatic make-up, stunning bodies swathed in bright drapery shot against the tranquil panoramic landscape of rural Kerala. There is one a little more dramatic than the others — the model stands against a blazing fire, the vermillion of his loin cloth almost merging with the inferno behind him.
Sunil glances at it and chuckles, “My mother almost had a heart-attack when I shot this one. It was taken at the back of my house and we had to keep pouring kerosene to keep that blaze going. It was so hot that the hair on that model’s leg was singed.”
He has been part of the fashion industry for over two decades now, but according to Sunil, nothing gives him as much satisfaction as the making of the calendar. “This is the sixth edition of the calendar,” he says.
“When we first began, I couldn’t get people to model for it — they thought their names would get tarnished because of the cause it stood for, thankfully, today it is seen as just another job.”
Unapologetically gay, Sunil says, “I was one of the first people to come out of the closet, way back in 1992. HIV/AIDS was affecting large portions of the gay community, but unlike in the U.S., where HIV was associated with gays, in India it was seen as something affecting sex-workers and truckers. India was in denial of a whole community indulging in high-risk behaviour.”
So when WHO asked him to help them with a HIV project in India, Sunil jumped head-first into the cause. “I abandoned my Ph.D. and began travelling across the city, understanding the behaviour of the gay community. Then the late Sivananda Khan offered funds to set up a support group and Sahodaran was born.”
Fashion occurred simultaneously. “I used to help backstage at a lot of shows and then was asked to handle Sishya’s (his alma mater) fashion show. There was no looking back. It helped that I could use the name built in the fashion space to further my cause,” he says.
Though he has faced his fair share of hostility for being who he is, Sunil feels he is among the lucky ones.
“I came from a privileged background, had access to education, and have a supportive family. Not all of us are so lucky. I see people who are thrown out of their homes, who are not given jobs, who have no choice but to sell their bodies to survive. We all have the right to live in peace, to be seen as part of a larger community, to be able to support ourselves, be accepted and understood. Our sexuality is not a choice we make, this is who we are.”
