Durbin: A cinematic binoculars for the Rainbow Community

Reading Time: 8 minutes

When you walk out on the street, it’s you who decides what you choose to see as normal or uncanny around you and while doing so many have found the LGBTQIA+ people eccentric. 

In a world full of relentless issues like the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the increasing rate of human trafficking, we always get a way back into the debate around accepting the LGBTQIA+ in the society where their existence was always omnipresent. Why? Simply because they do not fit in the predefined characters that we have set?

As disheartening as it can be, we can see the existence of disapproval in a country like Nepal, which is considered one of the most accepting communities globally for people finding their sexuality beyond ‘man’ or ‘woman’. But in reality, it still has not been completely ready to embrace and walk together with them. 

As Harvey Milk once said, “Hope will never be silent”, the home organization for LGBTQIA+ : Blue Diamond Society (BDS) is stepping up in milestones one after another along with the projects funded by Right Here Right Now. They are not just helping the people live openly, but contributing in building a better community that is far more inclusive than the majority of the population of our country that sets a firm belief on maintaining gender binary concepts. BDS has been spreading love and acceptance while educating on the serious-issues related to subjects like reproductive health, safe-sex, and gender identity through e-learning, social media campaigns, workshops and innumerable other programs breaking the taboo in our school and home. 

And consequently, celebrating these little milestones of being able to coexist in peace, they are stunned with negative theories that make the pride, diversity, and sexuality “media-influenced” or “mentally ill”. Still, it is time to rise for more applause, because hate can only take you as far as behind the growth, love and positiveness.

Concluding 2023 with another milestone for the Rainbow Community: Durbin

Moving on from the homophobic comments and vigorous hate, and bringing out this newer milestone is ‘Durbin’, produced by Kaleidoscope Production. A cinematic project led by Pranay R. Shakya and directed by Dinup Magar. It brings forward intertwined tales of the rainbow community delivering one simple message. Despite not being a gender that the society hesitates to accept, they are human first who are just getting through life as humanly as possible, even if at the end it all comes around love.

The Grand Premiere

The series had an intimate premiere on November 28th, where The Spotlight team also joined the forces. Aligning with the ways of the newer generation to educate and provide a safer environment, the correspondence of Blue Diamond Society and Kaleidoscope Production has seemed to bring in the arts with both tears and joy, along with a team that seemingly has finer skills weighing up to most of Kollywood.

The crowd, the team, the anticipation, and then the trailer, it all made Durbin feel like a coming-of-age series that surely is going to help spread information and educate with substantial reach about the LGBTQIA+ community.

The premiere kicked off with the tandem of visuals like “Yatra” and “Breaking the Norms.” While these two inspired people to accept themselves and might persuade society towards ending their reluctance to see them as normal people, Durbin gave a different approach towards inclining the audience to get a closer view of what the LGBTQIA+ community is.

Meaning behind Durbin

The approach to Durbin gave it its title, Binoculars or Durbin (दूरबीन) in Nepali, that metaphorically explains it as “showing something near you that was far away”. Even if you are still unaware of LGBTQIA+, you can use this series as your binoculars to understand what they are and how they have always been around.

Durbin has used the concept of introducing you to one gender-focused character in each episode where it talks about a specific struggle, as well as defining their sex and characteristics in the simplest way possible.

This six-episode series aims to give a glimpse of what “LGBTQIA+” means and the problem that exists for them to tackle alone and you can learn about it all regardless of your gender.

For those keen to learn the insider, Durbin is an introduction.

Why are we looking forward to it?

With its global release on 2nd December, 2023, Durbin has surely come out of the box which must be a joyous moment for the makers at Kaleidoscope Production that rolled up the dice claiming its place as the home for LGBTQIA+ contents as part of the Nepali cinematography as unicorn for the rainbow.

With movies consistently portraying them in tragic, hyper-sexualized, or comedic aspects, shaded under the glamor of industry like bollywood, Durbin acts differently. Like any major characters in a “normal” movie on the market, this series has its own normal to understand, accept, and live every day.

While the cast already has proved their remarkable acting skills, it also comes with amazing work from script writers, Parasot Kandel and Ranjana Bhattarai. With the script-writers understanding the community form within, the entire production came together to develop the concept and parts of the script. Each story comes from a real-life event, a real-life story of someone out there, that has been bound to the fictional characters.

And determined by how the final version of these plans for Kaleidoscope Production has come out, there is no doubt Durbin has to offer something more than the focus on genders—it is about being a human. While the series may not give you an in-depth story of any characters or a slow pace to connect with them, it pierces through the heart with subjects it has touched. And with the melodious music the series has added, it will bring out the layers of emotions going through the depth into the clips of each episode lengthening 20-30 minutes.

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Durbin has something we all can look forward to reflect the unexplored dark reality of how people have mere safe space in society just because of their gender going through prejudice everyday. Moreover, it has also been able to touch on the matter of consensual sex, domestic violence, self-reflection, internalized homophobic behaviors, and further sensitive subjects making it more than just the “series about pride”.  

The reason to watch Durbin

While Durbin is called a Rainbow Tale, it is not just tragic or a typical love story, despite having love at the end—with someone else, or with self. It gives voices to the meaning behind LGBTQIA+ but also the submerged problems and the real story that has happened or happening to someone that you might have passed by yesterday. It speaks to the jeopardy they survive in Nepal, including forced marriage, family framing one’s gender, rape, and much more that have been deeply rooted for generations.

If you watch the episodes closely, you can also find a point where two main characters from different episodes are in one reel interconnecting the episodes, says Director Dinup. This is a challenge that Kaleidoscope claims only those with a keen eye can spot.

Even the audiences who watched the trailer at premiere seemed to be excited for Durbin. Here are some of the comments that came to the spotlight:

With the trailer, it is already a fact we can see: everyone has equal opportunity and representation in Durbin. It has also tried to showcase many real stories that have gone unheard of, and it is high time we could see them surface on the internet. A series like this is a first of its kind.

Sujata Chaudari (Identifying as trans woman)

We are in the city area, and it is easy for us. But this will play a bigger role in getting to know the community, to know yourself, and to find your own identity for people outside the Kathmandu Valley, which will be easily accessible on everyone’s phone.

Ram Neupane (Identifying as Gay)

Production house representing pride

Kaleidoscope Production itself is another talk that everyone needs to have in their gossip of the month. The production house of Durbin, Kaleidoscope, is the first in the history of Nepal, led by people from the rainbow community and employing a majority of people that identify themselves among the LGBTQIA+. 

Breaking the stereotypical thoughts of how the people in the community live, Mr. Pranay R. Shakya, along with the team has proved to have many surprises to bring. The start has begun with their first – Durbin.  

We have always loved and supported international series like Sex Education, Schitt’s Creek and Modern Family cherishing gender inclusivity. Now it’s time to show the same love for home grown films in Nepal that has brought forward the pride to represent. Durbin and many other documentaries, films have been releasing out recently that has become a space where people confide themselves in or learn and accept the nature of gender and inclusivity to a progressively increasing extent. 

The groundwork has already been laid for, and now is the time to offer your contribution and lead the society to a more literate, accepting, and safer community while breaking all the hate and stereotypes that have existed till now.

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