Published Paper Details:

Queer identity or practise of alternative sexuality by an individual is often misunderstood as criminal identity (an instance of homophobia) under the purview of law even in the imaginative cinematic world. There is a wide range of homophobia still existing in our society and culture towards the people with alternative sexuality. There are gaps and fissures in the dealing of law towards the queer people which I want to focus in my paper in relation to the Bollywood films. I have mainly focussed on three Bollywood cinematic products - 'Aligarh' (2015), 'Made In Heaven'(2019) and 'Forensic' (2022). Even though Bollywood has come a long way from making caricatures or stereotypes or laughter stock out of the non-conforming characters (for example, 'Dostana'), we still find homophobic tendencies in the cinematic gaze and representation. 24th August, 2017 was one of the landmarks in the history of the verdicts given by the Supreme Court which ruled that every citizen should have a Right to Privacy which is a fundamental right protected under Article 21 and Part III of the Indian Constitution. The Supreme Court recognised the rights of the LGBTQ community and acknowledged that they existed and also needed some rights for existence. The section 377 of Indian law has a long legal history of its own which is getting addressed gradually by the Bollywood fraternity. While 'Aligarh' is a prominent film on this legal issue, homophobic tendency in general continues to be addressed in films like 'Forensic' which hurriedly draws to its end with no clear cut explanation regarding the psychology of the murderer who belongs to the queer community. The straight characters are unable to understand or identify the murderer due to his interchangeable sexual identity. The web series 'Made In Heaven' portrays a gay character Karan who is a wedding planner who runs the company along with his friend Tara. His landlord is shown to enjoy his camaraderie by filming his intimate moments enjoyed with his male partners. The twist comes in the end when it turns out that the landlord himself is gay but had to bow down to social pressures and marry and settle down.