Beyond Section 377: Bollywood Is Finally Normalising The LGBTQ+ Conversation In Indian Households

With the world¡¯s second-largest population bidding farewell to Section 377 of Indian Penal Code which criminalised consensual sexual acts between adults of same-sex, new hopes for an inclusive society were on a high this year. But is a change in the legal system enough to negate the deep-rooted impact of colonial-era law which resides more in the minds of the Indian populace than in the books?

It has been extremely unfortunate that despite being the largest film industry in the world, mainstream Bollywood movies have not only lacked but mocked the LGBTQ+ representation. They are represented as forever horny humans whose full-time job is to hit on straight hyper-masculine Indian heroes. Gays are the butt of jokes and Lesbians are still a big question mark. Movies in India are responsible for creating a normative universe in which homophobia is not only natural but is in fact celebrated. This has trapped our society into echo chambers of their beliefs. It leads to the generation of what we call Na?ve Realism which means that we tend just to believe what we see.

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Therefore, the trailer of ¡°Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga" (How I felt when I saw that Girl) feels like a breath of fresh air to a suffocating society. Story-telling through visual media has a tremendous impact on the society which assigns an incredible amount of responsibility to artists, as they define what the norms for the society and these norms dictate the beliefs and thoughts which further dictate the laws created by legal machinery of a country.

When the teaser of the movie was released, it looked like any other Bollywood hyper-commercial cheesy romantic flick heavily resting on music from a 90s movie, autotuned to suit the next generation with a nostalgic beat and title. The word ¡®Clich¨¦¡¯ never seemed more fit. However, as I watched the trailer, it swept me off my feet. Never had I ever watched a mainstream commercial Bollywood movie with an A-List megastar cast embrace the topic of LGBTQ+ rights with such pomp and glory. The trailer dazzles with beats of traditional Punjabi music, colours and dramatic background score, everything you would expect from a masala Bollywood movie meant for light-hearted entertainment. The usage of a popular 90s track with a stark different meaning has hit the right nerve while being catchy enough to get to people¡¯s lips despite the so-called taboo it is associated with. It is the first step towards normalising the taboo. It gives spot-light to the love stories from the much-deserved LGBTQ community which are no less special or in any manner obscene than straight couples.

It is evident from the first few words into the trailer that the story is set in a small town of Punjab state in India, which is an apt selection as it is for people coming from these areas that the struggle is more difficult and less talked about. Majority of Indian population lives in similar kinds of settings where the idea of homosexuality is perceived as a big-city thing or even worse, a disease of the West. This leads to members of the LGBT+ community to live a closeted life forever without experiencing the beauty of love and companionship in their lifetime. The trailer has some very hard-hitting dialogues wrapped under the pomp and festivity of a Bollywood movie. Every Indian kid dream to have a larger than life wedding, because the norms of our society compel, especially females, to structure their lives around marriage. However, this idea has been off-track for an extended period by looking at marriages from a gender binary lens. It rebukes the single-minded track in which we deal with the wishes and aspirations of our friends and family, subconsciously implementing our ideas of happiness and well-being.

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The fluidity of sexuality is still a concept that needs to be explored by Indian cinema, however with the movie trailer like, ¡°Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga¡± the wait doesn¡¯t seem too long. Hopefully, sooner or later movies like these, if responsibly made, will start the conversation in Indian households thereby initiating an organic change. As Indian Citizens, we warmly welcome this artistic revolution which will force us to rethink the idea of our society and how inclusive it is.

We all live alongside the labels the society slaps on us right from the day we were born. In fact, we try our best to fit into those labels as we grow up so that we can wear them proudly. However, there are parts of us that do not fit into those categories, those norms as set/dictated by the society. As Robert M Cover, a renowned law professor from Yale University says, the legal meaning is a challenging enrichment of social life, a potential restraint on arbitrary power and violence. We ought to stop circumscribing to norms; we ought to challenge them; we ought to invite new worlds. With the departure of the draconian Section 377, it is needed now, more than ever to start inviting new worlds, with new norms looking towards a more inclusive and diverse society.

Devang Shah is currently a Candidate for Masters of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (2020) Fletcher School, Tufts University. The opinion belongs to the author and does not necessarily reflect Indiatimes' editorial stance.