Sharif D Rangnekar is a communications consultant, a former journalist and

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

. He is the ex-CEO and ex-chairman of Integral PR. Sharif has been the chairperson and President of the

Public Relations Consultants Association of India Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) is a trade organization that represents India's public relations consultancy sector. It is the summit body for official communications and public relations practices in India. It was formed ...

(PRCAI). Sharif is also the founder of Friends of Linger - a concept band. The band released two songs ''Head Held High'' which is dedicated to the

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community in India, and ''Miss you'', portraying a love story between two gay men. The

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

(CBFC) gave ''Miss you'' an A certificate, and found 10 seconds of video objectionable. The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) later rescinded the directive from CBFC. Rangnekar published his first book Straight to Normal with Rupa Publications.

Criticism and reception

Drubojyoti Borah wrote about his book in

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

, "''A slim 200-something page volume, the book is not just a personal memoir, but also a breezy chronicle of a slice of India’s queer rights movement. I was slightly disappointed that the author didn’t spend more time on the meetings, the dynamics and the people. The breeziness of the book, one of its big strengths, also becomes a sticking point in some sections where maybe some pause-and-reflection at a momentous occasion, personal or professional, would be nicer."'' Anthara Raghvan wrote in India Today, ''"Rangnekar is frank as ever, going on to disclose his emotions on his relationships with men in the book, both open and exclusive. Rangnekar also brings the ugly side of prejudice to light in his book. He describes how several hate crimes, such as the murder of Pushkin Chandra in 2004, if they were reported, received little sympathy from the press and public."''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

wrote, "Reading this memoir is like taking a journey from the India of the 1970s until the time the discriminatory Section 377 was partially struck down."

Saleem Kidwai Saleem Kidwai (7 August 1951 – 30 August 2021) was a medieval historian, gay rights activist, and translator. Kidwai was a professor of history at Ramjas College, University of Delhi until 1993 and thereafter an independent scholar. Early li ...

wrote at The Wire, ''"Rangnekar’s book is a quick read and easily accessible for gay men going through a similar phase. It might be missing the traumatic experiences expected of such tales – rejection by family and friends, conflicts involving religion and self-loathing melodrama. Yet it is believable and moving because of its candidness, its amusing descriptions of sexual awakening and early attempts at romantic bonding."''

References

External links

Integral PR
Communications consultants 21st-century Indian musicians Indian LGBT rights activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{LGBT-activist-stub