LGBT Pride Month: 7 Indian Films That Contributed Towards LGBTQ Acceptance

The year was 1998. Deepa Mehta’s film Fire was in the midst of a social maelstrom due to its depiction of a lesbian relationship between its leading actors, Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das. The story was based on Ismat Chugtai’s story Lihaaf (The Quilt), which had its share of controversies for similar reasons when it was first published in 1942.

But 20 years since the controversy, India, it seems, has shed its prudish attitude towards the taboo topic of homosexuality even within the forbidden subject of human sexuality. This changing attitude is evident in the way movies like My Brother Nikhil and Dostana have been received in terms of theatres picketed, slogans shouted and effigy burnt.

There’s a social acceptance of homosexuality today among the youth who want to distance themselves from the bigoted worldview of the generation before. The same, sadly, cannot be said about the law of the land. But a powerful catalyst for this change has been the movies. As part of Pride Month, let’s look at all the Indian films that have shaped our changing attitude towards the LGBTQ community.

1 Fire (1998)

When it came to broaching the queer subject, Indian cinema had the proverbial baptism with fire… with Fire. It is very first movie to openly explore the topic of homosexuality and it paved the way for others. The movie speaks of Radha (Shabana Azmi) and Sita (Nandita Das), two women married into the same family, stuck in loveless marriages. The two find solace in each other’s company and soon become lovers. After the film’s release in 1998, several pressure groups staged violent protests all over the country, kicking off several debates on sexuality and freedom of speech.

2 Kal Ho Na Ho (2003)

The 2003 film is memorable today for two reasons: the desification of Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” and the image of a trembling Kanta Ben with a tray in hand. Veteran actor Sulbha Ben’s earnest portrayal of Kanta Ben was perhaps the first time a filmmaker in Hindi lampooned a homophobe for a change. The character reflected the shifting attitude of the Indian middle class towards homosexuality, uncomfortable yet accepting. This was filmmaker Karan Johar’s (a gay icon himself) first bold step into outing the subject to the mainstream audience.

3 Girlfriend (2004)

The movie Girlfriend, written and directed by Karan Razdan is no cinematic gem and certainly shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as Fire. The film was released in the year 2004 and has a dismal 3.3 rating on IMDB. The film speaks of a Tanya (Isha Kopikar) and Sapna (Amrita Rao) and the former’s obsessive fixation with the latter. At a glance, the film is anything to write home about. Shot in an exploitation style, the filmmakers cashed in on male curiosity and the actress’ sex appeal. Ironically, the film found support with neither the moral brigade who opposed it on grounds of immorality nor with the LGBTQ community who flayed it for its frivolous and superficial portrayal of lesbianism. To give it some credit, the film helped create some chatter around the topic of homosexuality, opening it up for debates.

4 My Brother Nikhil (2005)

Director Onir’s 2005 film My Brother Nikhil, unlike its predecessors, doesn’t treat homosexuality like a dirty joke. The story is based on the life of Dominic d’Souza who was Goa’s patient zero for HIV AIDS in 1985. The titular character is a gay man Nikhil was played by actor Sanjay Suri at a time when none of the A-listers in Bollywood had the courage to. The film helped normalise gay relationships and was a healthy and refreshing departure from some of the mainstream Hindi movies with their insensitive portrayal of homosexuality.

5 Dostana (2008)

Again, Dostana is no yardstick for influential LGBTQ movies in India, but it did some good, albeit unintentionally. Two straight men Sameer and Kunal (played by Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham) put up a gay act so that they can rent an apartment. Although the portrayals were caricaturish, the film succeeded in introducing alternate sexual orientation to the audience who were unaware of it. By projecting a gay Sameer as a bahu to Kirron Kher’s character, the film allowed viewers to see homosexual relationships in the heteronormative format. Even gay activists like Ashok Row Kavi appreciated the effort.

6 Aligarh (2015)

Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh is a film based on the true story of Ramchandra Siras, a Marathi professor at Aligarh Muslim University who was suspended on the grounds of homosexuality. Manoj Bajpai's sensitive portrayal of the soft-spoken professor won him a Filmfare award, the biggest mainstream cinema awards in the country. It was a huge step for the award committee to confer the honour on the actor and a significant milestone towards Bollywood’s queer acceptance.

7 Kapoor & Sons (2016)

One of the recent mainstream gems that supported the LGBTQ cause was Kapoor & Sons, in which Fawad Khan played a gay man, although his story was more of a subplot than the central point. But props to the filmmakers for presenting one of the country’s biggest heterosexual crushes as a gay man. Unlike its other mainstream predecessors like Dostana and Kal Ho Na Ho, Kapoor & Sons doesn’t make a mockery of homosexuality. It tackles the topic with a certain deftness hitherto missing from Bollywood movies -- a reassuring sign of our changing times.

Queer characters in Indian movies have always been played for laughs, be it the effeminate foil to the hero’s masculine character or the cross-dressing man. But these movies show that we have come a long way from our homophobic past. These in their modest capacities have helped ‘out’ the LGBTQ cause to the mainstream audience, either by bringing up the conversation on homosexuality or by giving the heteronormative audience a glimpse into the queer lives.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 18, 2018 06:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).