Bollywood (India's movie community) doesn't just have fans in its own country. It's become a worldwide phenomenon.
For example, NBCs hit show Smash incorporated Bollywood into an episode and So You Think You Can Dance has Bollywood as one of its genres. So, it's got U.S., European, Middle Eastern and, of course, Indian fans. Bollywood director Onir and other artists from exploring those themes in My Brother Nihkil (2006) and I Am (2011), Chicago-based queer Muslim actress Fawzia Mirza said.
Dunno Y ... Na Jaane (2010) was the first Bollywood movie offering a raw portrayal of a gay relationship. In fact, the Huffington Post reported it was India's version of Brokeback Mountain. While IMDB.com offered no synopsis, BBC said the movie chronicles the affair between two middle-class Mumbai men.
Passionate kisses, shaving together and sharing a bed were among those most provocative scenes.
"This film was banned in some places—at least, the sexy parts," Mirza said.
But that's not the only cinematic offering with gay themes. Mainstream blockbuster Dostana, according to Mirza, featured a "totally dramatic and unrealistic male kiss."
Reminiscent of the U.S. movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, the movie centered around two men pretending to be gay in order to get an apartment.
"Being gay is more part of the joke," Mirza said.
Even so, Khashish—India's queer film fest—launched in April 2010. In fact, it's where "Dunno Y" premiered. Another Indian film, Sholay, portrayed male friendship in way queer Indian men have embraced as a model.
Pakistan still hasn't made significant strides toward presenting images of gays and lesbians, according to Mirza. However, she stressed things in Bollywood must be kept in perspective.
"Remember, kissing even between men and women on screen is still taboo," Mirza said. "So, the gay kiss is truly amazing to see!"
With that said, lesbians are nearly invisible in Bollywood and beyond. Mirza said lesbians are rarely mentioned. For instance, Deepa Mehta's Fire was released in 1996.
Kareem Khubchandani, who Mirza calls her "queer brown brother," is a Northwestern University School of Communication graduate student. Khubchandani's studies focus on staged queer South Asian performances in nightclubs and daily life.
When he's not studying, Khubchandani performs in cabarets and drag shows. He also works with Chicago-based theater companies while workshopping his one-man show, "Material Boy: An Adaptation of Queer South Asian fiction."
So Khubchandani's got plenty to say about Bollywood cinema and its gay quotient.
"I think that the message about the toleration and acceptance of gays has come from directors and actors, who feel compassionate about the issue, and have inserted it into their movies," Khubchandani said.
He cites Dostana. Khubchandani said "it offered a very strong message for the acceptance of gays in the family through the figure of the mother." While Bollywood isn't totally LGBT-friendly, Khubchandani thinks activism has made queer life more palatable.
"I think the visibility of gay pride parades, gay- and transgender-rights movements, and out public figures (not Bollywood stars, but designers, philanthropists, etc.) has really brought the topic into the public eye," he said.
Tragedy has helped make LGBT issues more real, according to Khubchandani. A gay professor committed suicide after being fired while a television station outed gay-networking-site users. But Khubchandani said gay themes have never been foreign concepts in Bollywood.
"Gayness has always been present in Bollywood," Khubchandani said. "But, more so in the context of effeminate men who prance and whimper ... or butch women who are eventually forced into more feminine roles."
He confirmed many gay people work in Bollywood; however, they certainly aren't out. So, he said, they use their position to try to have good influence on society.
"It serves them well to articulate more positive messages about homosexuality in their films even if they do not come out themselves," Khubchandani said.
My Brother Nikhil, he said, was the first film, which portrayed gay men in a positive light. Unfortunately, since it lacked the usual song-and-dance format, the film was largely ignored.
Other movies, including, Bombay (1995) and Tamanna (1998) tried offering sympathetic views of transgendered people.
So, Bollywood has no truly out stars, although actress Celina Jaitley is a well-known and committed LGBT ally. Sridevi, a superstar in the 1980s and 1990s, spoke out—on film—for the community recently.
Sridevi made a comeback in English Vinglish. One of her lines spoke volumes.
"We are all people and a broken heart is a broken heart. We don't need to make fun of him for loving differently," Shashi Godbole (Sridevi's character) said, roughly translated.
Khubchandani stressed the significance of Sridevi uttering such words, given her large contingent of gay male fans.
"The likes of Sridevi delivering such a message carries a lot of sway, I think," he said. "[She] also has a huge following amongst gay men, and so hearing that message from her is deeply validating."
