Badhaai Do And Other Bollywood Films That Shunned Stereotyping The LGBTQ+ Community

Bollywood might be coming to terms with LGBTQ+ subjects now, but its relationship with the community has been problematic for years.

The emergence of OTT has made the scene a far better and more sensitive space. ( Image Source :Instagram (@kingosunens) )

New Delhi: The Supreme Court declined to uphold the Special Marriage Act's right to marriage for same-sex couples on Tuesday. But the court upheld their right to live together without interference or threat of violence. The Central Adoption Resource Authority's (CARA) law that forbade LGBT and unmarried couples from adopting children was struck down today by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, who also announced his ruling on a number of petitions demanding legal status to same-sex marriages. Contrarily, the five-judge panel ruled by a vote of 3:2 that non-heterosexual couples can adopt a child together.

The struggle for same-sex couples to get equal rights in society has been a long-running one and is still ongoing. And Indian cinema has often tried to give us a glimpse into the challenges faced. However, Bollywood might be coming to terms with LGBTQ+ subjects now, but its relationship with the community has been problematic for years. From queer baiting to using queer characters for comic relief, the Hindi film industry is guilty of all of it. A few filmmakers had a different vision, and the emergence of OTT has made the scene a far better and more sensitive space for the subject.

Here are a few Bollywood films that don't stereotypically portray LGBT characters.

1. Kapoor and Sons

The movie is about a family that hates one other more than anything else in the world while also trying to slit each other's throats. There isn't much of a relationship between the two brothers, Arjun and Rahul Kapoor (Fawad Khan and Sidharth Malhotra). Despite the fact that 'Kapoor and Sons' was about a dysfunctional family, Fawad Khan's gay character was handled gently and correctly in the movie. The subject was presented with the utmost respect without being made fun of, which is unusual in Bollywood films. 

2. Aligarh

This Hansal Mehta movie is among the most powerful films ever made on the LGBTQ+ community. Manoj Bajpayee portrays Ramchandra Siras, a professor who is secretly recorded engaging in consensual physical relations with a rickshaw puller. The movie then continues to show how he is shunned by society. The movie received appreciation for its truthful portrayal. 

3. Margarita With A Straw

In her 2014 film Shonali Bose explored a disabled woman's sexuality as well as her desires. In spite of being born with a handicap, the main character of the movie is a girl who embraces life to the fullest. The obstacles faced by those who are born with a disability and are looking for love were explored while maintaining the focus on same-sex relationships.

4. Badhaai Do 

The most recent movie to tackle the subject masterfully was Badhaai Do. The focus of the film starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar was ‘lavender marriage’. The tale of two gay characters who decide to get married to one another to have a ‘normal’ life. The shows how queer people make compromises to be accepted in the conservative society.

5. I Am

Filmmaker Onir is the director of the 2010 movie. It comprises of four short films with the topic of terror running through them all. 'Omar', one of the four films, showed a poor recourse to LGBT rights. A police officer threatens two boys named Omar and Jai in the film using Section 377, which the Supreme Court decriminalised in 2019.

6. Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhaan 

As it does in this movie, Bollywood often serves up delicate issues with a dash of fun. The creators of this Ayushmaan Khurrana-starring film use humour to address societal taboos surrounding homosexuality. Set in a small town in north India, it is among the mainstream films that dared to call a spade a spade.

7. Ajeeb Daastaans’ Geeli Puchchi

Queer issues now have more room on the screen and better representations owing to the rise of OTT. Ajeeb Daastaans' Geeli Puchchi on Netflix, starring Konkona Sen and Aditi Roa Hydari, was one of several such ventures. The movie told the tale of a Dalit queer working-class woman who fell in love with an upper-caste woman.