Negotiating Queer Subjectivities in Indian Cinema

This paper tries to compare and contrast two important and controversial films of that time that dealt with against the current themes, Fire (1996) directed by Deepa Mehta and Margarita with a Straw (2014) directed by Shonali Bose to understand how Queer identities are portrayed in Indian cinema. These films had a shook the social conscience by representing the key milestones of queer representation on screen, each exhibiting different socio-cultural challenges and thematic framework. Fire challenges patriarchal conventions and mandatory heterosexuality as considered normality in a traditional Indian society and households whereas Margarita with a Straw offers a more modern, intersectional viewpoint that inspects disability and bisexual identity. The paper also examines how these films question heteronormativity, talk about rights to woman and broaden the narrative space for LGBTQ+ section in Indian cinema from the perspective of queer and feminist critique. The study demonstrates how these films distinctively address the visibility, resistance, and empowerment, thereby enriching the ongoing discourse about sexuality, identity, and representation in Indian popular culture

Aesthetics · Art · Movie theater · Negotiation · Queer · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · Gender Studies · South Asian Cinema and Culture