My Brother Nikhil
There’s strong data to show that a lot of married Indian men visit sex workers and subsequently pass on HIV to their wives and unborn children. So for married women, bedroom is the most dangerous place. According to AIF, women need to be able to negotiate safe sex in the bedroom. Education is a very strong component because an educated woman is much more likely to assert her rights and prevent this infection.
Last evening I saw My Brother Nikhil with a friend of a friend of mine who has worked in AIDS prevention and relief.
My Brother Nikhil is a story about a middle class Indian family. Nikhil Kapoor(Sanjay Suri) and his sister Anamika(Juhi Chawla) share a very close bond. It’s a happy family, though Nikhil is frequently irritated over his father’s controlling attitude. He feels his father tries to make his dreams come true through him. Nikhil is the Goa state swimming champion.
And one day, the Kapoor family realise that Nikhil has AIDS. His father promptly throws him out of the house.
What follows is heart wrenching. Based on India’s first AIDS case, the movie is a sensitive portrayal of the plight of most of the AIDS afflicted in India. Nikhil is arrested by the police(which was the law then for HIV+ people) and thrown in a sanitorium infested with rats and junk. His condition deteriorates while he lies there, unattended. When he’s taken for medical examinations, doctors and nurses treat him like an untouchable.
Nikhil also had a close relationship with Nigel, a male, which makes a lot of people think its a homosexual disease.
Director Onir, in a Q&A discussion after the movie, said that he believes more than 90% of AIDS patients are mistreated by medical staff handling them. So the institution that a patient would look for support is the first one which is brutal towards the patient. Mostly it’s prejudice, but its also because they aren’t trained to tread AIDS patients.
The America-India Foundation and Saathi are two NGOs present at the screening that are working in AIDS prevention and relief.
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