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That the lady is a woman, and I who lie so close beside her, am her lover. The stars will not shriek, will make no outcry,The stars are sensible, and would not severWoman from woman or lover from lover— The Lion Skin by Suniti Namjoshi
The representation of the LGBTQ community in mass media and the entertainment industry has been minimal to say the least. And when it is indeed portrayed, it’s usually loaded with stereotypes. In the past, Bollywood movies have tended to equate gay men to the effeminate caricatures that hit on every man they pass, be it in Salman Khan’s posse in Pyaar Kiya to Darna Kya or almost every character ever played by Bobby Darling. Still, the spectrum of male homosexuality has received a fairer shot and portrayal in pop culture than most other alternate sexualities in India. Take, for example, lesbianism. Quite possibly the ultimate taboo given the double discrimination against these women, first based on gender, and then sexual orientation. Lesbian characters are less emotive and more titillating in pop culture, often catering to the heterosexual male audience, like the extreme focus on the physical in the film Girlfriend that lacked all emotionality of a lesbian couple. We’ve even had a Virgin Mobile ad where a girl jokingly manipulates her parents by hinting that she’s a lesbian and gets to go on a holiday with friends.
As such, many LGBTQI activists and supporters have started to use television and advertising as a medium to fight homophobia and increase the visibility of the large community, and the push for equality and visibility seems to be working depending on how rose-tinted the glasses you look at the world through are. “I think the judgment was not correct and, probably at some stage, they may have to reconsider...When you have millions of people involved in this you can’t nudge them off”--Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s recent comments on the Supreme Court decision regarding Section 377 highlights this as more and more people come out and speak against the dominant perception of the LGBTQI community as second class citizens, while Saturday’s incredible turn out at the Pride Parade, and the recent curative petition against section 377 all provide hope.
In light of all of the above, there are a few gems in various artistic fields, in entertainment and the media, including television, films and literature, that have existed and stood out in their rational and realistic portrayal of lesbianism with sensitivity, creating three dimensional characters that are given a sense of ‘normality.’
I. MTV India relationship show, The Big F, aired a lesbian story line
MTV India took quite a big step when an episode of the channel’s show, The Big F, aired a lesbian storyline, promoting it to have the first lesbian kiss shown on televisions across the nation. Thisepisode of the show, that’s said to ‘focus on forbidden fantasies’, follows Sharmistha, a student of fashion design, who is confused about her sexuality and gets constantly teased by friends for being single. The farce of living by society’s norms ends when she meets Madhurima who helps her overcome her fear, stop living in denial and accept her homosexuality.
Even though exploring one’s sexuality and lesbianism being tagged as a ‘forbidden fantasy’ is a bit cringe-worthy and several things in the episode could have been done in a more tasteful manner, the fact that the topic is being talked about on a major mainstream channel with a large and diverse audience like MTV, risking backlash from the fairly conservative censor board, is definitely note-worthy. At a time where things like the word beef and kisses are cut out of screen time, one might even say it’s extra commendable.
II. Myntra’s Advertisement For Anouk ‘The Visit’
Part of the ‘Bold and Beautiful’ initiative by Myntra, the advertisement titled ‘The Visit’ featuring a lesbian couple went viral in 2015. The three-minute-long video shows the anxiety one of the women feels as they get dressed and ready to meet her partner’s parents and reveal their relationship. With more of a film vibe, we see an intimate relationship and loving gestures between the two women, without most of the usual annoying cliches. The advertisement did receive a lot of mixed reviews from the LGBTQI community but even so, the video does do a good job of capturing the anxiety we all feel, regardless of sexual orientation, before having to meet the parents of our significant other. As such, the intention behind it can be appreciated. However, Myntra wasn’t the first brand to showcase lesbianism. In the past, Fastrack took an even more daring approach in an advertisement that has two girls getting out of a rocking ‘closet’ and urges others to get out as well, while homophobes need to “get over it.”
III. Parveen Babi & Hema Malini In Razia Sultan (1983)
Before Deepa Mehta’s sensational film Fire and the recent hoopla over Kalki Koechlin and Sayani Gupta’s relationship in Margarita With A Straw, there was Razia Sultan, written and directed by Kamal Amrohi in 1983. The film showed us a brief yet sensuous moment between Hema Malini and Parveen Babi as they lounge on a boat during the song Khwab Ban Kar Koi Aayega. Parveen Babi sings a half-asleep Hema Malini a lullaby as she discreetly caresses her. There are clear lesbian undertones in the entire scene, but what’s most telling is the reactions of the two girls rowing the boat as Hema Malini wakes up and both women kiss behind a big feather, the chosen method in that time to keep physical intimacy under wraps. This is impressive considering that the movie came out at a time when society was even more sexist and restrictive when it came to women or alternate sexualities than it is now, making this film entirely ahead of its time.
IV. ‘Coming Out’ photo-series by Arjun Kamath
‘Coming Out’ is a photo-series by Arjun Kamath that tells the poignant tale of two young girls in love who fall prey to society’s ruthless persecution. We see them ‘coming out of a closet’ and into a bright new world that they initially fear but grow to love as they find comfort in each others presence as they journey through a forest in gay abandon (pun not intended). As they explore the unfamiliar place, they’re soon caught and tormented by rakshasas who drag the young lovers back to the closet, chain it shut with them inside and follow to set the closet on fire. The narrative tugs at your heartstrings and has resonated with thousands of people worldwide when Kamath shared his series on Facebook. The beautiful images and touching captions are a stark reminder that we may call ourselves a ‘modern’ society but the fact remains that numerous LGBTQI people like the couple in his series face discrimination and terrible violence almost on a daily basis.
V. Unfreedom, a film by Raj Amit Kumar
Unfreedom, a film by Raj Amit Kumar, hasn’t been allowed a release in India till date. Which isn’t surprising considering the levels of violence and the subject matter that would hurt a lot of sentiments in conservative Indian society. The film carries two parallel narratives that seem to be linked only by the common feature of a kidnap in each, both for different reasons. The story comprises of a religious fundamentalist with a haunting and violent past that creeps up on him as he kidnaps and brutually tortures a liberal Muslim scholar, while on the other hand, a closeted lesbian woman runs away to escape a marriage arranged for her by her policeman father and into the arms of her bisexual lover, who she then kidnaps, trying to convince her to reciprocate her love.
With vivid and sometimes confusing imagery and flashbacks, a lot of things in the film are quite far-fetched and at several points, the violence borders gratuitous. The most terrifying thing perhaps is the reality of situations that our young lesbian is put in during the film, be it the crippling fear of shaming her ‘family’s honour,’ to the heartwarming plea she makes while in prison with her lover to her stubborn and unrelenting father who still tries to convince his daughter to get married, promising her that he’ll ‘forget’ this entire debacle of her ‘deviant sexuality’ and they can pretend like it never happened. So many of the dialogues between the father and his police friends are scarily real. In one instance, one of his friends proclaims that had it been his daughter he would have “cut her up then and there.” Most shocking is the ‘punishment’ carried out to the women for their alleged misgivings--custodial rape. We can question this film on a lot of things, criticise it even, but there is a lot of truth in this film that many of us would like to turn a blind-eye to. Yet it remains something that needs to be faced and dealt with as soon as possible.
VI. The writing of Suniti Namjoshi
Feminist and fabulist, Suniti Namjoshi holds a position of great importance in contemporary Indian writing, in the English language. Her work involves issues of gender, sexual orientation, cultural identity and human rights, and explores various facets of lesbianism in her poetry. In her collection of fables and poems titled Because Of India she struggles with the complexity of defining her own identity as a diasporic, Indian lesbian feminist and contemplates it in relation to a variety of particularised identities of others: “identity isn’t only a matter of self-definition. It also depends on the identity other people attribute to one...as a creature, a lesbian creature, how do I deal with all the other creatures who have their own identities, or perhaps I mean their own identifications?”
Know popularly for The Fabulous Feminist, Namjoshi’s Because of India: Selected Poems and Fables (1989) and Goja: An Autobiographical Myth (2000) are considered autobiographical, showing her development as a third world lesbian poet; The Jackass and the Lady carves out her position as a lesbian writer, she also explores “the different facets of lesbian desire and identity” within the framework of post-colonial discourse. Being a girl from a conservative Indian background who broke out and established such an identity and name for herself met with the disapproval of her family, especially her mothers. The unstable mother-daughter relationship comes up at several points in her poetry. In an interview with Christine Cryoden she puts before us her mother’s point of view, “She has never been particularly happy about the fact that I’m a writer, or a lesbian feminist. She sees these as notoriety, tarnishing the good name of the family. . .”
VII. ‘Syrngiew/Shadow’ Khasi love song by Gwyneth Mawlong
Singer-songwriter Gwyneth Alicia Mawlong’s Syrngiew/Shadow is a Khasi love song, that released in Shillong, in 2011. The songs lyrics may not openly refer to same-sex love, but it’s clear in the video that it explores lesbian desire, showing two lovers that are trying to live in a homophobic and discriminating male-dominated society. The song and video have gotten a lot of love, and a lot of hate, as can be seen in the comments section, which only further highlights the intolerance that prevails and that which Mawlong is striving to fight. This lovely and poignant song captures the struggles of a homosexual couple in India perfectly. You can read our more in-depth article on the video here.
VIII. Graphic novel ‘Kari’ by Amruta Patil
Kari is Amruta Patil’s debut graphic novel. Beautifully illustrated, the narrative follows the misanthropic titular character and her deep insights into sex, love, life, and death. The novel is stimulating and brooding, set in Mumbai, where Kari is a copywriter for a large MNC. Left by her lover, surrounded by her detached heterosexual roommates and working on a demanding ad-campaign, Kari deals with love and loss as she explores the city that never sleeps. We see all its lights and sewers through her mesmerizing large eyes that stay with you long after you turn the last page. With a mix of artistic styles ranging from sharp shades of grey and soft charcoal, to drawings on photographs, the novel has a unique dream-like quality to it and Kari was a much needed breakthrough for its time, both artistically and culturally.
The blurb from the jack reads: “They were inseparable – until the day they jumped. Ruth, saved by safety nets, leaves the city. Kari, saved by a sewer, crawls back into the fray of the living. She writes ad copy for hair products and ill-fitting lingerie, falls for cats and roadside urchins, and the occasional adventures in a restaurant. As Danger Chhori, her PVC-suit-clad alter ego, she unclogs sewers and observes the secret lives of people and fruit. And with Angel, Lazarus, and the girls of Crystal Palace forming the chorus to her song, she explores the dark heart of Smog City – loneliness, sewers, sleeper success, death – and the memory of her absentee Other.”
IX. The Gaysi Family’s Annual Zine
Gaysi Family started out as a blog, a safe space and community where gay desis, hence Gaysi, could openly share their experiences and stories. Over the last seven years, however, the Gaysi community has grown into a multi-faceted entity playing host to a number of film screenings, book readings, plays about Drag Kings, and their famous open mic night, Dirty Talk. Of all their work, The Gaysi Zine is perhaps the most creative and relatable. An annual crowd-funded and self-published magazine, the ‘zine takes queerness into everyday situations and tells tales in an incredibly artistic way. Their most recent 2015 edition dives deep into photo-essays and in-depth features using only comic and graphic novel-esque mediums for story-telling like never before and sets the bar high for all LGBTQI creative content that’s coming up. “With this fourth edition, we have realised a long pending dream of having a strong visual voice in the queer space,” said editor-in-chief Priya Gangwani, and we’re certain this standard has not only been met and set, but will only continue to grow more powerful. You can read our more in-depth article on the zine here.
X. ‘I Am’ by filmmaker Sonali Gulati
I Am is a beautiful film by Sonali Gulati that follows her return to New Delhi, back to the place she once called home that’s been locked for eleven years, to finally face and accept the loss of her mother, to whom she never came out to as a lesbian. Gulati meets and interviews the parents of other homosexual people and “pieces together the fabric of what family truly means, in a landscape where being gay was until recently a criminal and punishable offense.”
Coming out to one’s parents is a tough task for many people, something they contemplate and struggle with for long periods of time. On the flipside, it can be hard for the parents as well, who belong to a different generation that’s been brought up in a manner where condemning homosexuality is all they’ve been taught and know. We hear different people’s take, many of them misconceptions, on homosexuality and the fears they have for their children that are living in a homophobic and narrow-minded society, and even the medical ‘cure’ that was given for this ‘ailment.’ Gulati’s tale is so relatable for a lot of people as she discusses her intimate and at times difficult relationship with her mother, as she question what could have and might have been had she told her mother about her sexual orientation while she still had the chance.
XI. Chutney Popcorn by Nisha Ganatra
Writer and director of the film, Nisha Ganatra play the protagonist, a lesbian Indian-American, that volunteers to be surrogate mother for her infertile sister. Chutney Popcorn balances the light-hearted, comedic, emotional and tumultuous intricacies of human relations beautifully. Lesbianism is dealt with in a very matter-of-fact way and remains a background topic for most of the film, a part of life, which is what we love about it. The intimate love scenes are dealt with in a tasteful manner, showing the emotional and affectionate side of it instead of just titillating.
The film doesn’t conform to stereotypes, it’s the story of a regular family with all its ups and down; with a very down-to-earth approach, Ganatra hits home with her tale of familial bonds, marital-problems, clashing sexual and national identities, and a loving mother who comes to terms with her daughter’s sexual orientation, what she initially refers to as a ‘disability.’
XII. Close, Too Close: The Tranquebar Book of Queer Erotica
How does one distinguish pornography from erotica? Rowan Pelling, who turned a society newsletter to the popular Erotic Review, gives her take on it: “Porn mags are produced to be thrown away. They are as ephemeral as the ejaculations of the men who read them. Erotica is made to be kept, treasured and referred to, time and time again.”
There is a fine line between erotica and soft-core pornography, and keeping erotica titillating and sensual but also intelligent and artistic is a challenging balancing act. This challenge was taken by Tranquebar that has brought out a number of erotic books since 2009. Close, Too Close, edited by Meenu and Shruti, is a book that brings erotic stories of alternative sexualities into the spotlight and to the the mainstream Indian audience. The anthology comprises of a variety of tales that are raw, tasteful and playful, a blend of narratives that are rooted in everyday life. The stories are set in relatable settings and cover a range of desires that are not just limited to same-sex relationship but intimate and sexual relationships of all orientations. There are illustrations by Anirban Ghosh and Nilofer, both of whom tell stories of their own, just without words. It’s noteworthy that in a country where, forget homosexuality, but sexuality in general is rarely acknowledged in public, a book of erotica is being published by a mainstream publishing house and has been made widely available to the public.
Tehelka reviews the anthology writing: “Refreshingly, the same-sex or same-gender nature of attraction is treated with nonchalance, reflecting a maturity in new queer writing and the ability of contemporary queer writers to not just bear witness and “break silence” but write from within same-sex desire about all forms of desire. The queerness of this work instead lies, most profoundly, in the ability of some of its stories to open up the body itself. To open up its sheer physicality, the certainty of how it is meant to be formed and lived. Utterly naturalised understandings of breasts, genitals, bulges, curves, and abilities are quietly, simply set aside in the stories.”
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