F.R.E.D.D.I.E.
Last night, I finally got around to watching Bohemian Rhapsody, the biographical film of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the ultra famous band from the 70’s: QUEEN.
The movie follows periods of Freddie’s life, beginning from how he first met the other band-members, and then later formed Queen (1970), to their epic LIVEAID performance at Wembley stadium in London, UK (1985). If you are a millennial like me born in the 90’s, you’d most likely know them by a couple of their famous songs I frequently heard: “We Will Rock You”, “Another One Bites the Dust” and “We Are The Champions.”
To be honest, I was never truly aware that it was QUEEN behind these epic anthems. I grew up playing competitive basketball, so in my mind, the creators and singers of “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions” wasn’t a 70’s, flamboyant, Rock/Disco/Opera boy-band from Britain, it was more like a couple guys from the States with maybe an ‘alternative’ influence to their music, and definitely not from the 70’s. I heavily related these songs to basketball, so my perspective on who QUEEN was, was completely skewed and personal.
Now, having also mentioned that QUEEN was a rock-band from Britain in the 70s, my brain also assumed that all the band-members were automatically White, ESPECIALLY the lead singer. It wasn’t like I actively thought about this, however, that one assumption made their sum of characteristics: 70s (too old), British (white and old), and Rock-band (you get the point), kind of irrelevant to me (a young, Indo-Canadian, 90’s girl, who grew up listening to half Punjabi and half Hip-Hop.
So, for those of you who know more than me about QUEEN at this point, or have already seen the movie, you could imagine my sheer and utter shock when I found out that Freddie Mercury was actually Farrokh Bulsara. YEAH. Freddie Mercury, lead singer of QUEEN is of direct INDIAN descent. Both of his parents are Indian, and Farrokh was born in Zanzibar/Tanzania, who later moved to Britain with his family, and then changed his name to Freddie Mercury after QUEEN was formed.
The very first scene I saw was Freddie grabbing luggage from a plane and his co-worker (I believe) called him a very derogatory term that is particularly heavily used towards Indian people in Britain: ‘Paki’. Freddie angrily retorted that “[he] wasn’t from Pakistan.” This triggered me, because I was instantly alerted that Freddie wasn’t white, and, he must’ve resembled something close to Indian if the term ‘Paki’ was specifically used (sad, but true). I asked my fiancé, Andrew, what then was his ethnicity. Why would the writers specifically use that word in the movie if it didn’t hold any significant weight?
Before I could answer the question myself, I saw Freddie entering his parents’ house (which is 1000% Indian) and heard his mother and father speak to him in an Indian accent that resembles my grandparents’ accents. I. Literally. Screamed.
This was completely earth-shattering to me. You have to understand that for all my life, I only heard of QUEEN. I was never truly exposed to them as people and what they looked like. And, the name Freddie Mercury doesn’t exactly cry INDIAN!
I couldn’t comprehend that one of the world’s most famous and talented lead singers, with sky-scraping vocal ranges, and a persona that broke all conventional images and roles at that time probably grew up eating some form of *Roti and *Dhal and learned about cricket.
It was SO unbelievably cool and the biggest form of accidental representation I’ve ever been impacted by. I knew that Freddie was an immigrant, but I mean shit, that could literally mean anything, we’re all fricken’ immigrants. I never knew that he experienced pressure from his parents to go into academics instead of anything creative or artistic, like a lot of Indian children do experience these days. I knew that he was gay, but I didn’t know that he was an Indian boy that was gay, which changes the narrative because even today, in 2019, Indian men are much less likely to come-out to their families than their White counter-parts because of extremely harsh, cultural and family dynamics. In the West, Indian families are heavily involved with their extended families and reputation (and distorted religious beliefs) are still held as the number one priority in most Indian communities, so children have literally been disowned and abandoned for things like homosexuality and even inter-racial relationships. Not to mention, while same-sex marriage doesn’t have any legal sanctions in India currently, same-sex sexual activity is punishable by up to 10 years (NBC News, 2018). I’ve also known Indian gay men in my own community who have expressed the difficulty of coming out to their families, and that there are many men who choose to live their true life in silence because of the immense backlash, public humiliation, and fear of losing their families over their homosexuality. I’m not an expert on this subject, but having been exposed to some of these stories through friends and colleagues, I can only imagine what the complete reality of living it is.
All of this just made the importance of representation that much more blatantly crucial to our society today. I felt so beyond moved by this film and information I discovered, and forever changed by it. The global reach that Freddie Mercury had obtained in his lifetime was unheard of from any one person in any race, let alone Indian. So, not only did Freddie’s parents have to accept that he was not going to be a doctor, an engineer, or a lawyer, they also had to accept that his heart belonged to a man, and not a woman.
I also discovered that in one of their most famous and era-defining songs ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, the lyrics contain the word “Bismillah” which in its simplest form means ‘In the Name of Allah.’ I have quite a bit of friends that are Muslim, and so I’ve heard Bismillah numerous times, whether to say thank you to God before a meal, being read out loud in the beginning of verses in the Quran, or in my best-friend’s case, before you drive the car anywhere because, well, her record could use some good luck!
So when I heard QUEEN sing ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and then try to sell the track to their producer, I was again, shook, that Bismillah was written in the lyrics, and not so shockingly, by Freddie Mercury himself.
Now that I think of it, all of this may have been an over-reaction (which I’m now writing about so clearly it hasn’t worn off), but all of this information hit me at the same time, and what was so beautiful about it was that it wasn’t like these days where Hollywood is now trying to increase representation purposefully because it’s trending, but that Freddie did this by himself (and his band-members) with his pure talent, love, and passion for his music and his purpose.
Whether he knew it or not, he would affect millions during the time he was alive, but also, generations of people like me, who found out about him 28 years after his death.
All of this came from one movie. A movie that simply disseminated information that was already out there, but never brought to light. It goes to show just how important peoples’ stories are, and more importantly, the truth of who they are. So important in fact, that they would feel the need to express it and write about it in their blog, so that others might feel just as inspired too.
Notes:
*Roti: Flatted bread made from flour from Indian cuisine
*Dhal: Boiled lentils from Indian cuisine
1 (NBC News 2018) https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/meet-straight-woman-arranging-same-sex-marriages-india-n884246