Pride Month| Queer representation in Indian cinema; how far have we gone – Entertainment News , Firstpost – Firstpost

Queer representation in Indian cnema

The streaming platforms changed the entire representation of the LGBTQ community whether it is Modern Love Mumbai or Masoom. Made in Heaven and Four More Shots started the trend of positive representation of LGBTQ+ stories on OTT platforms, and it was continued in series like Inside Edge, Akkad Bakkad Rafoo Chakkar, Fame Game and anthology films like Geeli Pucchi and Baai.

As Manzu played by Pratik Gandhi in Hansal Mehta’s Baai from Modern Love Mumbai rightly says in the film, ‘Music doesn’t see whether you are straight or gay.’ It is good to see the transgender community getting visibility in Indian cinema. Pratik Gandhi played the closeted gay man Manzu with complete ease. The highest preparation for Gandhi was to not put the gay man in a box. It is not that they have a certain type of body language and they walk and talk in a certain way. He says, “They are one of us and it is difficult to understand unless somebody tells you. We wanted to keep it real and natural and human.”

Gay roles in the past have been shown in Bollywood in a very caricaturish way. Gandhi feels humour and comedy have always been used as a tool to communicate the most difficult things. He explains, “When you are not sure how to say a difficult thing, you use the tool of comedy and cover it. Here the challenge was more of an excitement. Hansal Mehta told me if you replace the two characters with two girls or one girl and one boy, it will still remain the same. So, the crux of the whole story was love and we were just telling a love story.”

Sridhar Rangayan, filmmaker, queer activist and director of the KASHISH queer film festival says, “The streaming platforms are free from the marketing constraints of big budget mainstream films, and are able to offer a niche platform where films with diverse storylines, and not so well known star cast can be distributed and even watched by a large audience, mainly because these films/shows are available in the bundled price and the audience don’t have to buy tickets for individual films. Also the issue of censorship doesn’t as yet curtail freedom of expression on OTT platforms.”

But Sridhar still feels that what we need are true representation with characters that are integral to the stories, not tokenism. Mainstreaming queer visibility in cinema has been quite a struggle, but post reading down of Sec 377 in 2018, LGBTQ+ characters seems to have become the flavor of the season.

Sridhar says, “There have been several still regressive films, but there have been good ones too. The first LGBTQ+ film to release theatrically and on OTT platform after the decriminalization was Evening Shadows, directed by me, and written by Saagar Gupta and myself. It went on to win 27 international awards and has till date screened at 80 film festivals. This film about a mother’s challenge to accept her gay son resonated with not just parents of LGBTQ+ children, but families in general who identified with the storyline of a woman’s struggle to stand up against a patriarchal society”

This was followed by Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, Shubh Mangal Savadhan and recently the brilliant Badhaai Do. All these films try to subvert the classic Bollywood plotline by introducing gay or lesbian characters, and using humour and light melodrama to tell their stories. Since Badhaai Do was a reasonable commercial success, there is hope that we will have more mainstream films with sensitive portrayals of the community. Most of these films do not use a confrontanist approach, but a gentle nudging of the already existing narratives to impart subliminal messages.

Sridhar still feels transgender focused stories, handled sensitively, hardly exist in Bollywood cinema. We still see caricaturish or villainish portrayals of transgender persons, be it in Laxmi Bomb or in Kanchana (Tamil film). But we find beautiful transgender focused films in Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam and Assamese languages. For eg. Nagarkirtan, Nyan Merukutty, Naanu Avanalla Avalu, Jonaki Porua (which won Benjamin Diamary a special mention for best acting at the National Awards) or the recent Antharam, which was the opening film of KASHISH 2022, where the transgender part is played by transgender actress Negha Sabapathy, who won the Kerala State Award as Best Actress.

While Bollywood continues to be regressive having a cis-het woman play transgender parts like Vani Kapoor in Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, regional language cinema has embraced diversity in its truest form. Sridhar says that we need to sensitize the screenwriters and directors, as well as the producers and the investors, to tell more nuanced and realistic stories that go beyond the angst of who we are, why we are, coming out, acceptance, etc to treating LGBTQ+ characters as real human beings who are part of the mainstream social fabric. We need more stories of the marginalized communities within the LGBTQ+ spectrum – stories of transmen, intersex, queer and non-binary persons, also stories from the rural areas, as well as exploring the intersectionalities of class, caste, faith, etc.

He says, “At KASHISH 2022,  30 Indian LGBTQ+ films were screened, and each one of them is a gem, showcasing in real rainbow colours our true stories. We need to ensure these films reach the masses. But what we need the most is a space at the table, for us to be a major stakeholder – where we queer writers, directors, actors are given an opportunity to tell our stories, with the backing of good producers, production values and marketing budget so we can reach our stories far and wide.”

The queer community, has immense talent, but what they are waiting for are opportunities to showcase them. Sridhar signs off by saying, “Hope our time comes soon!”

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