Last week, shamelessThe film, which focuses on a forbidden love between two female sex workers from North India, competed in the Un Certain Regard category at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Bulgarian director Konstantin Bozanov’s film, which touches upon topics such as women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights, also won the Best Actress award for its lead actress Anasuya Sengupta.
Sengupta says the film spoke to her because “for women, sex workers, queer people and other marginalised communities, every day is a series of obstacles; just living is like being a hero. And they go anonymous for it”. So, “it was exciting to see a sex worker and queer woman get to be the hero in a film and have the opportunity to add layers to the character”, said the actor, who dedicated the award to the LGBTQ+ community.
Anasuya Sengupta (Left) and Omara Shetty at a photocall shameless At the Cannes Film Festival | Photo credit: AFP
Coincidentally, in the beginning of May, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hiramandi: The Diamond Market Released on Netflix, it sparked a debate. This ambitious series based on an elite house of prostitutes in British-ruled India was heavily criticised for its inaccurate portrayal of society. courtesan The culture of the maestro and his characterization (or lack thereof) YesThe pimp, played by Indresh Malik. His identity – intersex, transgender or cisgender gay man – is never clarified, his queerness is used as a tool to portray his villainy, and his tragic story breaks existing stereotypes.
Gender Fluid Maestro Yes In Hiramandi
This paradox of representation is the reality of LGBTQ+ stories in India today. Queer characters are increasingly moving from the shadowy fringes to more central roles in films, television, and OTT — think of recent titles like Congratsto do, MakeIn heaven, Kathal-KorAnd IntelligenceBut as Kolkata-based writer and broadcaster Sandip Roy says, “Now, the problem is the reverse [as compared to the 80s, 90s and aughts]. It’s not the lack of it, but the fact that the space for normalized gay characters is small. Either someone is overcompensating by making the gay person the coolest character, or bringing back the stereotype. The thought process seems to be: ‘If I’m going to cast a gay character, I should get a good return on investment.'”
A view Good luck and be careful
Mammootty Kathal – Core
Nithya Vasudevan, one of the co-directors of the Bangalore Queer Film Festival, agrees. “There has definitely been an increase in the representation of queers, but what they are is still yet to be fully explored,” she says. “Queer characters in Indian films and shows still seem to address the institutions of family, marriage and law. [Mammootty-starrer] Kathal-KorWhere the protagonist’s sexuality unfolds in court is within the triangle of these social structures. The homosexual relationship is not central to the storytelling.”
Nithya Vasudevan
Making space for queer narratives
The pandemic was a turning point for queer conversations in the mainstream. During lockdown, more people used social media to talk about their situations: whether it was loneliness, living with their partner, or being stuck in unhealthy situations, like living with parents who aren’t queer inclusive. “As more queer conversations surfaced, more people and creators were able to express themselves.” [especially in OTT] “I saw these stories,” says Sakshi Juneja, co-founder of GayC, a platform for queer expression and dialogue.
Sakshi Juneja
For Juneja, no matter how much one is put into the ‘queer’ box, it is less of a stretch. “I will accept whatever I get on the big and small screen. Obviously, some work, some don’t; it’s a learning curve. But you can’t be improved unless you put it out there. So, this gives us a good way to mainstream a conversation about a flawed character like her HiramandiThis Pride Month, Gacy and filmmaker Jaydeep Sarkar are curating a two-day event at Mumbai’s Soho House, which will bring together queer filmmakers, screenwriters, and non-queer people who have dabbled in queer content, to discuss potential next steps: how to move beyond coming-out stories, how to look at queer intimacy, and how to tell meaningful stories that also take into account the commercial element.
Maina Mukherjee, cultural producer and curator of the I View World Film Festival, echoes these sentiments. “Recently, a number of queer characters have been added in surprising ways, but I find myself looking for the density, layers and complexity in their character development that I have seen in the films of the late Rituparno Ghosh,” she says. Mukherjee recently came out with a Deepa Mehta documentary I am Siratwhich portrays the trans experience from multiple angles, in India. “Stepping out of sensationalist narratives, telling stories that look at sexuality beyond the male gaze, and bringing more queer people into writing rooms will produce stories less about fitting in and more about authentic, lived experiences.” One of the most pointed criticisms against the much-acclaimed KathalHe pointed out that the Malayalam film did not show any physical intimacy between the gay men played by veteran actors Mammootty and Sudhi Kozhikode.
Maina Mukherjee (right), Seerat Taneja and Deepa Mehta (centre)
Diversity and representation
This “cleanliness,” according to Mukherjee and likely to continue for some time, has to do with the different platforms these films and shows are being released on, from the big screen to handhelds. “India has moved forward, but at a smaller scale,” says Aseem Chhabra, film writer and director of the New York Indian Film Festival. “We are not there yet [at the level of world cinema or Hollywood]where we can Human Error or one call me by your nameWe cannot compare ourselves with other countries because feudal elements are still strong in our society.”
However, with constant exposure and dialogue, the situation can change. For directors, opportunities have opened up to tell stories of gay lives through OTT services, especially after the pandemic and the scrapping of Section 377. “Mainstream films and series that have gay men as central characters show that there is a huge need and hunger for such stories,” says Sarkar, director of the docu-series. Rainbow Relationship on Amazon Prime Video, which highlights six real-life love stories. “Producers and OTT platforms have realised that stories need to be richer, contemporary. They are giving more space to diversity and representation.”
Filmmaker Jaydeep Sarkar
The missing element
According to Juneja, the involvement of queer people in the production of shows is still largely missing. “While there is a lot of focus on people on screen, there should be a lot more focus behind the scenes as well,” she says. “It is important to create productions with queer inclusion because they will bring their own sensibilities. And if you are looking for true friendship and contribution to the field of arts and culture, it is also about bringing in skill building. Production houses can partner with support groups, NGOs and other queer content creators to do workshops. This is happening, but it can be done more.”
Gay couple Suresh Ramdas and Soham Sengupta Rainbow Relationship
Gender rights activist Daniela Mendonca Rainbow Relationship
Many of the people we spoke to from the community chose Karan made in heaven ,M.I.H., – A A closeted gay man who doesn’t find his sexuality a burden, played by Arjun Mathur – as a generalized gay character. Trinetra Gummaraju, in M.I.H. In season 2, he introduced his trans identity to the small screen without any stereotypical baggage. “I was told that the makers were conscious about including a trans actor as part of the filmmaking process, and they approached it with sensitivity and inclusivity in front of and behind the camera,” says Juneja, who did sensitivity checks for the script in Gaysi. human beingStarring Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari, the show on Disney+ Hotstar is another show that Juneja believes has worked well. “The two main leads are lesbian women, and I thought that was good because it brought out a lot of grey shades of the characters. Their being lesbians just became a part of their personalities.”
Arjun Mathur made in heaven
Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari in a scene human being
But while the ground is fertile for gay storytelling, Sarkar warns that there are several hurdles to overcome, the first being to only show the “victim and villain dynamics” – where tragic themes or stories of victimhood float to the surface. The second is to find a ‘crossover’ audience for gay stories. “It is slowly growing, but it will take some time to break the boy-girl trope. And I don’t know if we are ready for a gay romance film yet Ddlj” says the government.
To build an audience, “gay people need to show up as a seriously engaged audience for these things that responds”. And once there is a “breakthrough box office hit”, the equations of power will surely change. “Gay creatives no longer have to wait for someone’s benevolence to make these shows. Being in a position to receive donations is not the best place to tell one’s story,” he says.
Importance of Film Festivals
For queer stories, the film festival space remains an important medium between the market and the mainstream. “Through our film selection, we try to move beyond mere representation and also show films that give queer people a chance to float in and out of moments and experiences,” says Vasudevan of the Bangalore Queer Film Festival. “Last year, we screened Reproduction The film, made by Jean-Marie Villeneuve, shows a man jealously watching another man across the street with his camera and binoculars, taking pictures of different parts of his body. For us, that was grotesque because the film was about one man’s gaze on another man.” Such films allow the LGBTQ+ community to see themselves in the world in other ways “by escaping the solidification of queer identities created only with representation”.
Film festivals also signal a possible shift in the type of stories being told and raise hopes for more inclusive stories. Sengupta, who made history by becoming the first Indian to win an acting award at Cannes, says it’s not just the “recent complexity” of gay characters in Indian films and television shows that is exciting, but also the changes in the industry. “The change is evident, but not enough,” she says, drawing from her experiences working as a production designer for the past 15 years. “But I like the growing momentum of it. It’s not just the representation on screen, but also behind the scenes, there are more women, gay people and other marginalised people on set, but there can always be more.”
The author is a Bengaluru-based poet and writer.
With the inputs Surya Prafull Kumar
