Once India’s Supreme Court ruled gay sex as no longer a criminal offence in 2018, it didn’t take long for Bollywood to release a series of movies that focus on same-sex relationships. India’s first ever lesbian love story — “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga” (How I Felt When I Saw That Girl) released in 2019 — champions an unapologetic “love is love” message that was a hit with critics, movie-goers, and members of the queer community alike. That said, despite the sudden increase of LGBTQ representation in Indian media (which is very much a positive), there’s still progress to be made. LGBTQ experiences still haven’t been explored from the queer gaze and need to embrace subtly over preachiness in order to tell authentic stories of queer sexuality, critics and academics say.
The rise of LGBTQ rom-coms
Since the release of “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga”, numerous other LGBTQ-focused rom-coms have since hit the big screen. For example, 2021’s “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui” (Chandigarh Does Romance) is Bollywood’s first ever transgender film. It tells the story of Maanvi Brar, a cis-passing transgender woman, who falls in love with Manu, a cis-male. Manu doesn’t initially realise that Maanvi’s transgender, and once he finally finds out, he’s disgusted. Will Manu overcome his bias and follow his heart? This film is as funny as it is moving, and helped push trans acceptance into the mainstream.
Lavender marriages on the big screen
Then, in 2022, comedy crime-drama “Badhaai Do” (Give Congratulations) also hit the cinemas. It stars Rajkummar Rao as a gay cop and Bhumi Pednekar lesbian exercise teacher. The duo enter into lavender marriage together to please their traditionally-minded families — a story many in the LGBTQ community can relate to. Indeed, Badhaai Do finally puts the issue of lavender marriages as a form of self-preservation within homophobic societies front and centre on the big screen. For that alone it’s worthy of commendation.
Moreover, the film crew should also be praised for their hard work behind the scenes to bring the movie to life. As Badhaai Do was shot in three separate locations (Mussoorie, Dehradun, and Goa), numerous sets needed to be designed, transported, put together, and deconstructed again. The crew successfully juggled complicated logistics in order to plan and build sets in each location. The hard work paid off as the movie earned over ₹221.44 crore ($27 million USD) at the box office from an initial budget of just ₹29 crore ($3.5 million USD).
Indian media still lacks queer gaze
Despite the recent improvements in LGBTQ representation in Indian media, some feel like the progress made is still too slow and not yet enough. “I feel the mainstream industry [is] looking at our stories from a very heteronormative gaze,” gay Indian film director, Onir, recently told Variety. “The queer gaze is largely missing. What is disappointing is that it’s largely about a tick mark of having done the right thing — right from actors to platforms and studios that use the phrase ‘but we are already doing one queer story.’ I don’t understand what that means. We are not one homogeneous story, we have many stories. As long as we are still othered as ‘they,’ our stories will never find the space it deserves,” Onir added.
On top of that, LGBTQ Bollywood films have also been criticised for being overly moralistic, according to Meheli Sen, associate professor at Rutgers University. These sorts of movies are too obvious in their intentions to get viewers on board with LGBTQ acceptance. “I’m personally very interested in how the representation of queer sexuality can go beyond sloganeering and go beyond pedagogic, message-heavy films about how we should all be more accepting,” notes Sen.
Although we still have to wait and see just what the overall influence will be on LGBTQ integration in Indian society, Bollywood’s recent efforts are certainly a step in the right direction. “I don’t think it’s inconsequential that you can see queer people as regular people in media texts — they’re not these freaks of nature,” Sen said. “Just normalising certain kinds of sexual subjectivities is a big, big part of the job, and that is happening.”
