New Delhi, July 21 - He is a gay activist, makes movies on issues confronting the community and is delighted with the Delhi High Court order decriminalising consensual gay sex between adults. Now, Sridhar Rangayan feels it's high time the censor board also updates its rule book.

Rangayan has made three films on homosexuality -- the first is still lying with the censor board, the second he did not bother to submit for certification at all and the third has been accepted by the Central Board of Film Certification but with an 'A' certificate.

'The censor board has rules which are antiquated and it's not accepting today's trend. I think it's time to fight to get the censor board rules changed. What we need is to have some young people as part of the core committee,' Rangayan told IANS.

In 2003, he made 'Pink Mirror', which is said to be India's first film on drag queens. Though it has been screened at various NGO meets, it has yet to be screened in India.

'I approached the censor board thrice for the certificate and every time they rejected the movie. There is no nudity, titillation in my film. I have depicted my characters very sensitively, still I didn't get the certificate,' Rangayan said on phone from Mumbai.

'They had strange reasons to reject the film. They say that I have not depicted the gay community in good light. It was funny because I'm know the community very well. They wanted my characters to be apologetic for being gay. They wanted me to show characters crying and asking why god has made them like this,' said Rangayan, who is founder of the Mumbai-based The Humsafar Trust that advocates gender and sexuality issues.

'It's strange that some of the censor board members were okay with the film but the committee head told me that he cannot give me a certificate. And the strangest comment I heard was, 'show without showing and say without saying',' he added.

When Rangayan made his second film 'Yours Emotionally' in 2006, he didn't bother to take it to the censor board and instead it screens it at NGO meets.