Brokeback Mountain To Fire: Films That Brought LGBTQ Conversations To Silver Screen

As it's pride month, here’s a list of a few such movies that caused the audience to go beyond what they know and made them think about people, their rights and their lives.

It’s pride month, and it’s all about the celebration and commemoration of the queer community. Pride month began after the Stonewall riots, a series of gay liberation protests that happened in 1969. Every year, this month, various pride parades, shows, and campaigns take place to celebrate and acknowledge the struggle that the community faces.

Cinema plays a huge part in impacting and starting conversations that are not so easy otherwise. Sometimes they are successful in delivering what they intended to, sometimes they fall behind, and sometimes they create controversies that stay relevant and historic for years to follow.

Here’s a list of a few such movies that caused the audience to go beyond what they know and made them think about people, their rights and their lives:

Different From The Others (1919)

This was possibly the world’s first outright gay movie. Anders als die Andern, made in 1919, is a silent black-and-white German masterpiece. The films used biological facts as a way to explain that being gay was a part of human nature and nothing out of the ordinary. This film was one of the first movies to have a sympathetic view of homosexuality and talk in the direction of equality and acceptance of homosexuality. ‘Different from the Others’ remains a landmark moment in German and cinematic history.

Maurice (1987)

Starring Hugh Grant (Clive Durham) and James Wilby (Maurice Hall), directed by James Ivory. This movie follows a story based on the novel called ‘Maurice’ by E.M. Forster. This movie follows the lives of two Cambridge students and how they navigated their love and sexualities and how it impacted their life courses. This movie was a breath of fresh air and discomfort for people. Seeing young men in love was not something they expected or quite frankly wanted, but Maurice remains one of cinema's classics for its storytelling and cinematography.

Umbartha (1982)

Staring Smita Patila as Sulabha in Umbartha, the highlight of this movie was the lesbian relationship between the two inmates, which turned into a scandal. Which is widely discussed in the media and government. This movie is one of the first movies to hint at homosexuality in its plotline. Even if the relationship is discussed negatively, ‘Umbartha’ takes the right step by talking about the taboo subject ahead of its time.

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, directed by Ang Lee, this movie explores the complex romantic relationship between two American coy boys, Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist. This movie came as an uncomfortable shock to the whole of America because it took their most masculine ‘rough and tumble’ cowboys staring at the young heartthrobs and turning the very spirit of America into gays, in love and together. It challenged the stereotypical idea of what two guys in love look like. 

Fire (1996)

Starring Nandita Das and Shabana Azmi, Fire is one of the first mainstream Bollywood films to explicitly show homosexual relations, and the first to feature a lesbian relationship. This film hardly needs an introduction. After its release in India, activists staged several protests, setting off a flurry of public dialogue around issues such as homosexuality and freedom of speech. Due to the theme of homosexuality, 'Fire' was banned in several countries and caused an uproar among the people but, it still shines as one of the most well-made films.

Bomgay (1996)

This is an Indian anthology of short films directed by Riyad Vinci Wadia and Jangu Sethna. The film stars Kushal Punjabi and Rahul Bose with music by Ashutosh Phatak. It is often regarded as India's first gay film, and it throws a spotlight on the sub-gay culture of ‘Bombay’ in the post-liberalised metropolis of the 90s. Bomgay consists of six segments, each based on a poem by Indian writer R. Raj Rao. The film was not released commercially in India as Wadia did not submit it to the Censor Board, believing they would refuse the film a certificate.

Aligarh (2015)

Starring Manoj Bajpai and Rajkumar Rao follows the story of a common gay man who tries to come to terms with himself after being suddenly forced out of the closet. Unlike Brokeback Mountain, this is based on a real story. But the film is like poetry, that says a lot and leaves even more unsaid. 'Aligarh' is the true story of Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, who was suspended from his job because of his sexual orientation. Due to the raging issues of LGBTQ and media freedom, it triggered a debate and caused a stir among the people. This movie beautifully explored the story and questioned the foundations of the society that we live in. 

(Vaishnavi Tripathi, a media student, is currently pursuing  her graduation from Chitkara University.)