Representation of The LGBTQ+ in Cinema: A brief outlook

note: This article was written for my client on the account of decriminalization of Section 377 in India.

Image Credit: Peter Hershey

I didn't know what the word "gay" meant when I was a kid. There was only one way to fall in love. That was how it was supposed to be, that was what I was taught. For me that word 'gay' simply meant happy. . The first time I came across gay men, was via movies. That movie was Kal Ho Na Ho. Rohit's maid is absolutely petrified when she sees him and Aman in bed, wrapped in each other's arms. And I just couldn't understand the reason for her terror. I remember a friend explaining the terms 'lesbian', 'gay' and 'bisexual' to me in school. I was still confused. Even if they loved each other, so what? Then I was told that it was a joke, something to be ridiculed. It was not normal, it was 'unnatural'. It's so funny that I didn't think this initially, I was conditioned to think so. . The second time I saw a gay couple, it was in Dostana. And yet this time again, it was done as a joke. It was catering to a homophobic audience for whom it was okay if two men were hugging each other. But only for fun, only if it was as a joke. It was okay for us to think that Beauty was falling in love with a beast, but if she fell in love with another beauty? That would create havoc. . The third gay couple that I met, they taught me a lot. I had started watching Modern Family. At first, I thought that Mitch and Cam were brothers. I couldn't grapple with the concept of two actual gay men living together "normally" and having the same problems and tiffs that hetero- normative couples do. It was weird, unsettling and yet so refreshing. I loved how they'd fight or how they'd discuss different ways to become better parents to their daughter Lily. In my head now, romcoms just didn't have a male and a female lead. They could be male/female/trans. Their genders didn't matter, their hearts and the love inside it did. . .

Then there were Callie and Arizona in Grey's Anatomy. Callie was bisexual and Arizona, a lesbian. The issues they faced were something that any couple could face. Betrayal, surrogacy, handicap, depression. Callie's father hopes that she will "convert back" again. But Callie tells him sternly that it's not a religion. No body can convert you, it's who you are. That's what taught me that sexuality wasn't a state of the mind or a phase, it was something inherent. . All of them taught me that gays didn't always have to dress up as drag queens or wore flamboyant clothes or had a tilted wrist. That lesbians weren't always angry and hated men. And even if someone dressed in a particular way, it doesn't imply their sexuality. They could be doctors, marketing honchos, accountants, politicians, anything. . Oscar from the Office taught me that only the person themself has the right to control the narrative. Only they could decide when to come out to their peers/parents/family and when to not. . Speaking about coming out, how can I not bring up Fawad's character from Kapoor and Sons? A "mainstream" Bollywood movie that finally acknowledges a gay person as a person and not as an object for a joke. They don't reveal his identity to make fun of him but instead, for us to empathize. Or how it was completely normal for Kalindi to have two gay uncles in the recent Veerey Di Wedding. Yes, they were a bit stereotypical but atleast the characters weren't comic devices written to make people laugh. We've definitely traversed a long journey since the days of Kal Ho Na Ho, but there's still a long way to go. . We've started our work with web series like Romeo and Juggal, Dev DD by Alt Balaji and Untag by Voot Originals, but it's yet to reach mainstream TV. Making love to naginns is okay, but to a human of the same gender? That's still offensive. . Today, as section 377 gets revoked and gives people the opportunity to be themselves openly. I hope we embrace their stories with equally wide arms. Whether it's a book, a movie or a TV show. Let's accept that queer is not different or weird, it's totally 'normal'.