Best Queer Films from Bollywood
Indian filmmakers are slowly but surely starting to incorporate LGBTQ themes in their art and it’s refreshing to see. For many years, Queer Indians did not have much representation on-screen and that is changing now.
Indians, for some reason, consider it to be unnatural for a man to not love another woman and vice versa. Even though the government of India has officially declared to have no qualms over it, that thinking has not yet transpired in the minds of people.
I want to take some time to discuss some of the Queer films released in the early 2000s and 2010s which I really liked watching.
My Brother Nikhil (2005)
Set in Goa back in the 90s, we see the story of Nikhil Kapoor (Sanjay Suri), a state level swimmer who is loved and adored by his family. Things take a turn when Nikhil is diagnosed with HIV. Everyone other than his sister Anamika (Juhi Chawla) and boyfriend Nigel (Purab Kohli) turn against him.
Bombay Talkies (2013)
Karan Johar’s segment, Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh revolved around a gay man named Avinash (Saqib Saleem). After years of being tortured by the hand of a homophobic father, he leaves home to start fresh. He secures an internship in a popular magazine and gets close to a colleague named Gayatri (Rani Mukerji). Gayatri invites him over for dinner where he meets her husband Dev (Randeep Hooda) who is a closeted homosexual.
Kapoor and Sons (2016)
Kapoor and Sons was a film that revolved around a dysfunctional family who are always out to slit each other’s throats but also love each other more than anything in the world. Rahul Kapoor (Fawad Khan) and Arjun Kapoor (Sidharth Malhotra) are two brothers who really don’t get along with each other. Rahul’s mother Sunita Kapoor (Rathna Pathak Shah) is horrified to discover intimate photos of her son and his boyfriend. Rahul’s sexuality was just one layer of the family drama that made it a must-watch.
Aligarh (2016)
Directed by Hansal Mehta, Aligrah was a LGBT movie based on a true story depicting the tragic life of Professor Ramchandra Siras (Manoj Bajpayee). Once, a local news channel barge into his home and finds him having sex with a rickshaw puller. That incident ends up changing his life forever. He’s sacked by his university and is ridiculed by society.
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019)
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga was another mainstream Bollywood LGBT movie that featured a big star representing the LGBT community. Sonam Kapoor Ahuja played the role of Sweety Chaudhary, the daughter of a fun-loving and traditional Punjabi family. Ever since Sweety was a young girl, she dreamed of being a bride. But, when she grows up, she realises that although she wants to be a bride, it’s not the same way she imagined. When Sweety ends up rejecting all the suitors picked by her parents Balbir Chaudhry (Anil Kapoor) and Chatro (Juhi Chawla), they get a hint about her reason behind it.
