Same-sex ad shocks India and goes viral

A ground-breaking ad depicting a loving same-sex relationship has swept across conservative India, a country where being gay has been illegal since its Supreme Court restored an 1861 law two years ago.

Clothing brand Anouk Ethnic Wear’s launched “The Visit” two weeks ago. The three-minute spot depicts two women casually preparing for a visit from one of the woman’s parents, interwoven with one woman’s concerns over their acceptance of the relationship.

“We tried to avoid the stereotypes associated with gay people,” Avishek Ghosh, one of the ad’s producers, told the Times of India.

“There was no one woman looking more masculine or feminine in the film. We tried to give it a candid feel like it is any other couple being apprehensive about meeting the parents.”

India restored a law, which has previously been overturned in 2009, that makes homosexuality punishable by up to ten years.

The ad’s creators told the Times that the video has clocked up around three million views across various social media platforms in ten days – so far the ad has been watched over one million times on YouTube.

On Twitter, users are supporting the video with the hashtag #BoldIsBeatiful.