Indian Cinema is one of the most popular and influential medium of entertainment in India. Its take on pop culture, trends, fashion, and current politics and sensibilities has a strong influence on the Indian identities that consume it ferociously.
Over the last decade, Indian cinema has produced films and TV/web series that are contemporary, edgy, and at times challenge the hetero-normativity. We have had some interesting representations of sexuality and queer identities in the cinema.
Starting 21st June we attempt to understand how queer sexuality is being acknowledged and understood in cinema. We would be publishing pieces that speak of the diversity of desires and queer representations in cinema, the mistaken queer identities, complexities of queer relationships, and the role of the audience in impacting the creators of Indian queer cinema.
At the most fundamental level the question meant to be unraveled is – Is the discourse of queer representations in cinema evolving in response to the social developments and state of political affairs?
RT @gaysifamily: June : LGBTQ Representation In Indian Cinema https://t.co/F3yc4ZJqIE #India #LGBTQ #Films https://t.co/gNWT52dXK8
RT @gaysifamily: June : LGBTQ Representation In Indian Cinema https://t.co/F3yc5011Ac #India #LGBTQ #Films https://t.co/gNWT52dXK8
I believe that the lgbtqia representation in Indian cinema is flawed to a great extent. True, there have been movies like Aligarh and Margarita With A Straw with some amazing actors and great stories, but do these movies get the exposure they deserve? We have a mainstream commercial cinema director-producer who is so conspicuously gay, and yet so closeted, he basically lives in a glass closet. He makes allusions and jokes about his own sexuality on various platforms, and doesn’t shy away from portraying gay men as caricatured characters and mocking the whole community. I believe it is the responsibility of people who are the creme de la creme in the Bollywood industry to endorse a project that clearly, unabashedly and openly talks about the lgbtqia community. And it’s high time someone took the responsibility to do this. It’s high time we stop mocking the community, and especially gay men by portraying them as comic side-characters with crude jokes and horrendous background music to add to the comic effect. I want to see a Kal Ho Na Ho where Aman and Rohit finally have a happy ending and Kanta Ben doesn’t faint at the thought of them making out.
Hi Priya and team ,
Thank you for this article. I am a student of Department of Media & Communication studies and working on the same topic ”LGBTQ Representation In Indian Cinema” as my dissertation. The team could be of great help in the regard . Please contact me on mayur_panchal@yahoo.com and let me know where can I contact you in case of discussions on the topic. Thanks.