When it comes to the LGBTQ+ community’s representation in Bollywood films, the industry wasn’t always helpful. Before the empowering, meaningful portrayal of queer people came to the screens, there was mockery, comic relief, and punchlines that defined the community. For decades, Bollywood has painted gay, and trans characters in either comic or villainous pictures. Although the situation has improved to a great extent now with mainstream successes like ‘Fire’ and ‘Aligarh’, the journey to improving queer’s image on the silver screen has been anything but smooth.
Shantanu Dhope, Indian gay make-up artist and social media influencer says, “For the longest time queer characters in Indian cinema were either comic relief or tragedies. There’s been some progress but representation is still rare, and often doesn’t come from within the community. Representation isn’t just about visibility, it’s about telling queer stories without shame, without stereotyping, and without reducing us to side plots for the sake of ‘inclusivity’.”
Before the rainbow flags marched the streets, the queer portrayal in Bollywood either included a gay man hitting on another guy, (cue awkward laughter), or an evil transgender character evoking fear. Bollywood owes an apology to Bobby Darling for reducing her to walking punchlines in 90s movies. Whether it’s Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) treating homosexuality as a running joke or Sangharsh (1999) starring Ashutosh Rana as a terrifying hijra villain, the 90s were the dark age of LGBTQ+ representation in Indian cinema. Not to forget Dostana (2008) which was, although a commercial success, reinforced harmful stereotypes by reducing queerness to jokes.
The Turning Point For LGBTQ+ Representation in Bollywood
The 2000s was when Bollywood finally woke up and took baby steps towards repairing the damage they did over the years when it came to trans representation. Deepa Mehta’s Fire (1996), starring Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das showed two lesbian women trapped in marriage, challenging society’s stereotypes. Obviously, this was met with protests and theatre attacks because apparently, people have a problem accepting what is true.
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Kapoor & Sons (2016) gave us a gay protagonist (Fawad Khan) whose sexuality was neither a joke nor a dramatic spectacle. He embraced who he was and this slight shift turned out to be an important milestone in Bollywood.
When Bollywood Finally ‘Came Out’: Trailblazers in LGBTQ+ Representation
It took a long time for Bollywood to become broad-minded but finally, we are seeing some moving queer storytelling like ‘Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan’ (2020) embracing gay romance, and ‘Badhaai Do’ screaming ‘love is love’ out loud.
‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’ (2021) starring Vaani Kapoor as a transgender woman brought more layers to the subject by discussing the gender transformation journey and how people perceive it. Although the casting of a cisgender actor as a trans woman was widely criticised, the mere existence of such movies shows that Bollywood is engaging with LGBTQ+ stories in ways we never saw before.
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Beyond mainstream films, web series and biopics like Sushmita Sen’s ‘Taali’, which is based on the life of transgender activist Shreegauri Sawant were the real trailblazers in raw representation of struggles the LGBTQ+ community goes through. The series perfectly shed light on their journey, bringing a massive shift in how we see the community.
What’s next for Bollywood is to bring more authenticity to queer portrayal in films by casting trans actors and bringing narratives that go beyond ‘coming out’. “LGBTQ+ representation can be life-changing. Especially in a country where so many still feel the need to hide who they are. Indian Cinema has so much power to influence and shape culture. I hope we keep moving towards stories where queerness isn’t just ‘brave’ or ‘bold’ but it’s real,” said Shantanu.
Credits: IMDb
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