Author: Kalavala, Divya
Publication Year: 2017
Keywords: Hindi Cinema,Sexual Representation
Abstract: This project attempts to query the role of the queer subject in Hindi cinema within the framework of emerging queer politics in India in general and academic studies in particular as seen in the fields of queer studies and film studies. In this research project, I have looked at Hindi cinema beginning from the 1990s till 2017 by reading films as texts to understand and chart the discourse of sexual politics in India. This is to initially understand the existing studies on the queer subject in Hindi cinema so as to trace out the inception of new queer identity. Further, it goes into the area of film festivals that is looked at as an extension of Hindi cinema; and by taking up film festivals as a platform I argue that the performative aspect of queer film festivals makes it possible not just in the formation of the queer subject but also make progress in queer activism. This is traced out through the changing language of queer politics in both the space of Hindi cinema of queer representation and the space of queer film festivals. The politics of sexual discourse within the cinematic framework is about the debate of visibility and invisibility whereas, in film festivals, queer politics moves into a place of a coalition with the other minority politics. Essentially this project seeks to bring queer theory into further dialogue with films.
The 1990s in India was a watershed for visibility in queer politics. During the last three decades the attempts to include the LGBT subject as part of the cinematic framework coincides with the process of othering. Fire, the first lesbian film was released in 1999, Naz Foundation that works for sexual health issues especially HIV/AIDS was established in 1994 which further goes to challenge Sec 377 in 2001. Around the same time, there have been several small scale queer film festivals that were being organised in different states as an extension to queer politics. The discrepancies between the political engagement of queer politics on the one hand and on the other hand this acceptance or modern tolerance of the abjected being or abnormality of the queer subject translates into one of the prominent institutions like Hindi cinema. There are two threads that are tied to queer activism that is both in a complicated conversation and at the same time challenges the legal system, and popular culture. At the outset, some of the examples where films that are directly in conversation with the legal system with regard to the queer subject are the following. In 2005, Shabnam Mausi featured the first transgender who was elected as the member of parliament. I am Omar (2010) made by a self identified gay filmmaker is about the misuse of Sec 377 to harass gay men by the police. Another feature film that based its fictional characters around 2009 Delhi High Court decision on of Sec 377 IPC was Donno Y Na Jaane Kyun. Aligarh, released in 2016, was based on the controversy that happened in 2010 at Aligarh Muslim University and it also enacts the court proceedings related to the case "Dr. Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras & Ors Vs. The Aligarh Muslim University'.
The interaction between both the political and discursive aspect of the queer subject is what is at the centre of this project. Films and as an extension film festivals are taken as the discursive aspect of the political engagement. How is this desire rendered visible and in the process what kind of treatment does the queer desire get? These are some of the questions to begin with.
In this work I have tried to focus on the coming together of two entities, that is, queer subject and its manifestation in films or in other words, I have tried to understand the usage of film as a medium to propagate a certain kind of discourse on a topic which is increasingly becoming popular within the social discourse. I have tried to understand the formation of subject theoretically (Chapter 2) to be able to continue to look at the manifestation of the subject in Hindi cinema through various films over the period of two decades (Chapter 3) to focus on the politics behind the articulation of queer subject as the new emerging subject as an alternative to the heterosexual. The general idea is to be tolerant towards that which is different in a garb of acceptance and visualising the same. This present decade is noted for a new kind of representation which is mostly positive unlike the previous pathological representation, however, a critical look reveals the nuances of this new endeavour. The confluence of old and new media in the age of internet and rampant usage of smartphones, the shift in viewing practices also changes the concerns and audience, therefore, I try to argue that the change in the viewer and most importantly their viewing practices construct a new subject/identity (Chapter 4). After an in-depth analysis of queer manifestation within the cinematic framework, it is pertinent to look at the subject outside the text of the film but within the cinematic context so this is where film festivals come into the picture (Chapter 5). Here, I have tried to argue that the queer film festivals essentially recuperate a gap that is created by Hindi cinema. The queer subject formation happens through performance of the same subject within the context of queer film festivals, where the subject doesn't just get represented within the films but most importantly the space of film festival allows for the articulation of the subject. Its representation within one of the major ideological forms, cinema, and the celebration in festivals allows for the simultaneous interpellation of the subject.
To summarise, I have tried to look at queer subject by trying to trace its manifestation in popular culture in a linear progression, first tracking the subject within the context of Hindi cinema from the 1990s which later moves into the area of film festivals to understand the post-structuralist understanding of queer subject's formation through Butler's idea of 'performativity. Further, I try to look at the aspect of queer activism that is an integral part of queer film festivals thereby to map out the journey of queer activism within the framework of queer film festivals. The findings here essentially speak of one strand of queer activism itself that strives to be accepted and assimilated into the normative whereas the other strand goes into a tangent of coalition with the activism of other minority groups.
University: The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad
Shodh Ganga Link: View Thesis
Category: Film Studies
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