Queer Film Festival in Mumbai Just the Start

by Juliet Blalack · 2010-01-15 09:56:00 UTC
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KashishWhat a time to be queer in India! Last year the High Court of New Delhi ruled that homosexuality is perfectly legal, pride parades are popping up from Bangalore to Mumbai, and now there's an Indian queer film festival in the works.

Filmmaker Sridhar Rangayan (pictured left) is sifting through submissions for India's biggest, if not first, LGBT film festival known as Kashish. Rangayan said he received over 100 submissions from a host of countries -- China, Israel, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa, the UK and the U.S. just to name a few.

Rangayan liked the idea of the Indian queer community getting the rare opportunity to see LGBT films from other countries, as many of the issues faced by global LGBT populations are the same. But that said, one of the primary goals of Kashish is to bring little-known Indian films that deal with lesbian, gay, bi and trans issues to a large audience.

"Our vision is to encourage greater visibility of Indian queer cinema and bringing it into the mainstream discourse," said Rangayan.

Rangayan has scripted and directed a host of his own movies dealing with LGBT issues, and his films have been screened everywhere from Texas to Tehran.

One of his most famous films, The Pink Mirror, portrays Indian drag queens in a sad-yet-funny musical. It is still banned in India, though you've got to wonder how long the censor board will bother with such cuts when there's a huge gay film fest on the way.

Meanwhile, in case you were wondering about the festival's name, it translates roughly to attraction. By coincidence, it's also the name of the most famous Indian-American lesbian, Kashish Chopra. (The Miss India U.S.A. winner spoke to Ellen about pageantry and being gay in the Indian-American community.)

So until Kashish starts in April, I'll be flipping through festival sponsor Bombay Dost Magazine and wondering what's next for India's increasingly empowered queer community.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Juliet Blalack writes about LGBT rights, with a focus on international issues. She previously lived in Cairo, Egypt.
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