Bollywood - it’s obsession with homophobia and transphobia under the pretext of progressive stories.
Tags: Transgender, Bollywood, LGBTQ, Representation, Diversity

Bollywood is popular, everywhere. There’s hardly anyone who doesn’t know what Bollywood is. Be it the extravagant and larger than life portrayal of stories and action, the energetic songs or the immensely talented actors. Bollywood is known for a lot of thing around the globe. There has been shift of storytelling techniques and narratives in Bollywood over the past few decades and we have come a long way into movies along with the rise of OTT platforms in India.

But let us all ask one question that should really matter. Has Bollywood really made an effort to be inclusive of queer people? Have we seen genuine Queer characters in Bollywood out of the periphery of being there for comedic or antagonistic purposes? I would say the answer is no.

With the shift of the kind of stories that we tell in Indian cinema, and with the need to represent queer people in the most genuine way possible, we have not done the bare minimum. Let’s talk about how Films like Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, etc. which talk about queer stories in the most Bollywood way possible are actually pretty problematic.

The casting of Cis gender Heterosexual people as homosexual characters is in itself an issue that Bollywood chooses to not address anytime. It’s highly ignorant when you don’t want to include any member that actually belongs to the queer community in your movie. (Also note that Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga is written by Ghazal Dhaliwal who is a trans woman.)

There are plenty of people from the LGBTQIA+ Community who are involved in the making of a film, but they never get the acknowledgement they are worthy of. Instead, CisHet people get awards for portraying Homosexual characters.

Coming to the issue of transphobia in movies, there’s plenty of films we could point out which have that issue. The most recent one would be Laxxmi (previously titled Laxxmi Bomb) starring Akshay Kumar. This movie is one of the worst ways a trans person can ever be represented. Laxxmi is a remake of a Tamil film Kanchana.

I’ve been a witness to trans people being called ‘kanchana’ in a derogatory way (by 9–10 year old children who got influenced by watching the movie) which is triggering on a harmful level. Similarly, Akshay Kumar’s haters had made a bunch of twitter comments with the hashtag ‘#ChakkiKumar’ (‘chakka’ being a commonly used derogatory term for the trans community) which only went on to show that the movie did have consequences, and bad ones at that.

There is also the issue of how these characters are portrayed. Usually in a dark and antagonistic fashion, Bollywood’s trans characters are selfish, cruel, based on the worst stereotypes around trans people and are also mostly mentally unstable. They also have a bold look with too much makeup and too much vivacity. Then there’s also actors like Kangana Ranaut who is known for calling a lot of people ‘eunuch’ just for not agreeing with her.

That’s not all there is, there are good parts too. Places in which we have representation as close to reality as it can get, with the narratives including human emotions the same way it does for Cis Gender — Heterosexual people.

Movies that promote stereotypes and discrimination against LGBTQIA+ folks hardly ever fix the damage they do. Their creators and actors never address this issue again, leaving a wrong impression on the society. As much as we deny it, we can’t run away from the fact that movies influence a large amount of Indian population and it is necessary for movies to have correct representation if they are claiming to be inclusive.

It’s very important to call out actors and filmmakers (even if you love them) for promoting any content that goes out to spread misinformation about homosexuality and trans and intersex bodies. It’s high time we stand for oppressed communities and people and give them voices in spaces they weren’t allowed to have access to. As individuals with a voice, with power and with privilege, we can make the world a better place for people.