Queer Theory and LGBT in hindi cinema

Assignment

Literary Criticism 2

Name : Nishtha Makwana 

Roll no. 15

M.A part 1 ( sem 2 )

Enrollment no. 2069108420200025

Topic : Queer theory and LGBT in Indian cinema

Submitted to S.B. Gardi department of English, MKBU Bhavnagar. 

Introduction :

From childhood we have just one image in our mind about gender, for is there only male and female. The society constructed by Man and women, there is no place for others. Then we have a question, who are the others? Toilet doors offer us two binary options 

• Ladies
• Man

But what about Gay and Lesbians? People consider them as a shame for society and always abuse them. They are not even a part of our society. Society or people or culture just except Male and Female. Maleness and femaleness are just an idea in our mind. Biologically there is no male or female but only human beings. When we enter in society or culture there are gender binaries. But do we know there are various types of gender existing. But there are some critics who study gender types to aware the people about various types of community.  Queer theory is one type of examples to study the role of gender. It is not similar to 'Lesbians Feminism' because Lesbians feminism just describes rejection of female separation and instead sees an identity of political and social interest with gay man. Queer theory studies all gender types.

What is Queer Theory :

Queer  theory is a new branch of criticism to study theoretical speculation and it is developed as gay and lasbian study as a political form of academics. Queer Theory is came from multiple critical and cultural contexts, including..

• Feminism 
• Post structuralist theory
• Radical movements of people of color
• The Gay and Lesbians movement 
• AIDS activists

The term is coined by Teresa de Lauretis. She was an academic and critical theorist. In 1991 she edited a special issue of the feminist cultural studies journal differences entitled 

'Queer Theory : Lasbian and gay sexuality'

By this she means it to indicate at least three interrelated critical projects : 

1. Heterosexuality
2. Race
3. Feminism 

Heterosexuality is a benchmark for all sexual formations. She says...

'To recast or reinvent the terms of our sexualities, to construct another discursive horizon, another way of thinking the sexual'

Queer theory can be also known as LGBT. It is a short form of queer theory.

lesbian,

Gay, 

Bisexual,

Transgender

[Image taken from Google]

Lesbian is a term for a woman, who have sexual interest in another woman. 

Gay is a term for a man, who have sexual interest in another man. 

Bisexual is a different kind of person. Who attracted more than one person. 

Transgender is a choice based method. In which a person changes his or her gender from woman to man and from man to woman. 

Theorist of Queer theory:

There are some major theorists who developed Queer theory, including…

• Michael Foucault 
• Gayle Rubin
• Eve Kosofsky
• Judith Butler 

Michael Foucault refuses to accept that sexuality can be clearly defined and instead focuses on the expansive production of sexuality within governments of power and knowledge. 

Judith Butler in his 'Gender Trouble' argues that gender works through a performance, which cites previous performances to justify itself. 

LGBT in Indian Cinema :

Nowadays some people are trying to make people aware about Gender issues. We can find biases in culture, society, economical and in political fields. People from LGBT community have less rights than other people in society. They are not considered as normal human beings. People always laugh at those people. The people from LGBT community feel ashamed to accept their identity publicly because other people who believe as they are normal, will laugh. But nowadays with education and much effort people have started accepting sexual fluidity.

Finally Same - Sex consensual declared a human right under national constitutions. The United States of America has achieved this status in 2015 and India achieved this recently in 2018. 

In the era of technology television and cinema became a medium to aware people about unknown factors. Indian population is far away from the truth about homosexuality. Film industry takes this responsibility to awareness and people can easily accept some of the things in society. Let's see the journey from 2008 to present time. 

Film : Dostana

[Image taken from google]

Directed and written by : Tarun Mansukhani

Produced by : Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar

Starring : Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra

In the history of Indian cinema 'Dostana' film has made a big difference. It was the first hindi film to explore homosexuality. In India, the majority of people were unaware of sexual orientations. And still there are people who are unaware about this. A screen article called it a….

"Giant leap for the gay people in Indian films"

And the film sparked debate. According to Bollywood hungama report 

"The fact that it is a mainstream film with two mainstream heroes taking the plunge to the extent of even showing a prolonged smooch and courtship should have the pink brigade cheering."

There are three main characters in the movie - Abhi, Sam and Neha. Abhi and Sam pretend to be gay but not actually there were gay. With comedy they delivered the message for the rights of LGBT community. After this movie there were so many debates on it. People messaged and emailed to  Karan Johar and abused him, but there were some youngsters and teenagers who understood the homosexuality and emailed him. In his interview he said,

"There was once a point when we weren't even aware. People criticised me for stereotyping homosexuality in Dostana. It's ridiculous how unaware people were before. The film, at least, brought the conversation [about] homosexuality into the drawing room of every urban home."

Thus, this movie put a spark in the film industry and in society.  Educated people were aware about this, but larger number of population in India are still unaware ane need do aware about homosexuality. 

Margarita With A Straw :

[Image taken from https://vimeo.com/ondemand/margaritawithastraw   ]

Directed and produced : Shonali Bose

Written by : Nilesh Maniyar and Shonali Bose

Starring  : Kalki Koechlin, Revathi, Sayani Gupta, William Moseley

The movie beautifully deals with the issues of gender Stereotypes and clarifies it. It explores the bildungsroman through the sexual inclinations of a college student, who also suffers from cerebral palsy. Although the film has received critical acclaim, one would think that reality would have been less for an idealistic world building. What it does, make the observation space unrealistic and utopian. Such patterns are seen throughout the film and make them less educational. The film becomes very watchable for its sensitive portrayal of disability and captures a simplistic image of ordinary life. Laila is the main protagonist of the movie. She faces many problems and issues regarding gender stereotypes. Baradwaj Rangan remarks that..

"There's not a trace of stereotype, not a shred of self-pity" in the characterisation, and the most remarkable thing is that "Laila isn't a differently abled person. She's a person who is differently abled human being comes first, the condition only later"

Rangan found Bose's treatment of disability, the movie beautifully described it. 

Ek Ladki ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga :

[Image taken from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nationalheraldindia.com/amp/story/films%252Fek-ladki-ko-dekha-toh-aisa-laga-review-a-sweet-small-but-dull-film-with-such-a-long-title]

Directed by : Shelly Chopra Dhar

Produced by : Vidho Vinod Chopra

Starring : Anil Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Rajkumar Rao, Juhi Chavla

In Indian film industry we can find movie based on gay, but there are few productions which portray Lasbianism in their movie. Normally people are watching movies for entertainment, the movie also entertains the audience with a beautiful message. The movie got no success to represent its true story. Movie was  successful because of the togetherness of Bollywood's stars to support fluid sexual identity. There is a story about a small town girl  who wishes to surpass the set boundaries and discover her sexual identity. The movie was less criticized. It was successful in making a movie that sought to do away with the prejudice against the queer community.

Through this defined timeline, we observe the changing position of Bollywood on LGBTQ being a better communal space. Although it starts with the Ruth experiment, the issue has been forwarded, leading up to the great verdict of September 6th, 2018.

Conclusion :

Thus, in India still people are not aware about homosexuality and gender types. Some Bollywood movies take responsibility to aware people about this and somehow they are failing to do this because of our narrow thinking and lack of education and less knowledge. Queer theory or LGBT community is a field of study gender types and raies voice for their rights. 

Thank you !

Work Cited :

Achehir . “My Guide to Literary Theory: Queer Literary Theory.” My Guide to Literary Theory: Queer Literary Theory, 24 July 2016, achehir.blogspot.com/2016/07/my-guide-to-literary-theory-queer.html

Barry, Peter J. Beginning Theory: an Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester Univ. Press, 2007.

Beemyn, Brett; Eliason, Michele (1996-01-01). Queer Studies: A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Anthology. NYU Press.

Bose, Shonali, director. Margarita with a Straw . Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, 2015.

Butler , Judith. “Gender Trouble.” Google Books, Google, books.google.co.in/books/about/Gender_Trouble.html?id=U3dcBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y.

Chopra Dhar, Shelly, director. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga. Vinod Chopra Films, 2019.

“Gay Is Suddenly the New Buzzword .” Edited by Screen Weekly, Gay Is Suddenly the New Buzzword, Bollywood Hungama, 20 Nov. 2008, web.archive.org/web/20090224023322/www.bollywoodhungama.com/features/2008/11/20/4522/index.html.

Mansukhani , Tarun, director. Dostana. Dharma Production, 2008.

Rangan, Baradwaj. “‘Margarita With a Straw’... A Light, Lovely Tale of Sexual Awakening and Other Things That Make up Life.” Baradwaj Rangan, 27 May 2015, baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/2015/04/25/margarita-with-a-straw-a-light-lovely-tale-of-sexual-awakening-and-other-things-that-make-up-life/.