You’re too gay for this ad, and other ways Indian showbiz ignores LGBTQ+ artists

The year of 2022 could be a watershed year for Bollywood. For the very first time, a lead character in the movie is transgender in Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui starring Ayushmann Khurana and Vaani Kapoor.

Called a conversation starter on transgenders, the movie was lauded by many.

Bollywood has historically made pathetic jokes on trans people which unfortunately is a mirror image of our society. Kudos to films like Chandigarh kare Aashiqui for bring much required nuance to this topic & the struggles of trans community in India.

— Abhishek Singhvi (@DrAMSinghvi) December 12, 2021

Chandigarh kare Aashiqui was a revelation. It could have gone in so many - & predictable - directions. But this was handled so sensitively. No cheap jokes. No hamming. No stereotypes. & @ayushmannk was just superb in it!

— Chatura Padaki (@chaturap) January 27, 2022

Then there was a formulaic Badhai Do starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar - which is a lesbian and a gay man married to each other, due to family pressure.

Increasing roles but not being cast
While Bollywood might seem to be taking one step forward, it has brought out many issues – be it roles for the community and of course, casting transgenders for the roles.

The apathy towards LGBTQ+ community is also affecting artists who intend to find their place in the showbiz which has been expanding thanks to the number of web series and more under production. Yet, it’s falling short of people to accommodate them.

Transgender actor Sushant Divgikar criticises the casting of cisgender actors as transgender characters in Bollywood. This comes as Bollywood is making several movies on gender diversity but tends to cast popular actors instead of the ‘right’ fit.

“If a transgender person is not allowed to play a transgender character on screen in a film, they are not allowed to play a man in a film and transgender people are not allowed to play women in a film so what do transgender artists play? transgender trees in the back?” asks Divgikar on his Instagram.

Divgikar is quite vocal about challenges faced by LGBTQ community in society and Bollywood.

Sharing another such experience on gender disparity on Youtube, Divgikar revealed that they were auditioning for a toothpaste ad when the casting director told them even before they entered the room, “You are too gay for this advertisement.”

Yet, not all is lost. A few actors from the community have found their standing. Jim Sarbh, a popular actor who played a key role in the superhit movie Padmavaat, also plays a role in Made in India. In the popular Amazon Prime Video series, he plays a straight character.

“It was really difficult playing a heterosexual male so that was a first big challenge that I had to overcome, what cultural significance would be here and whether people will accept it,” he said sarcastically in an interview as he believes there is still socia stigma around the community.

While the number of shows and movies portraying queer connection are increasing – large numbers are played by A-list actors like Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan, Ayushmann Khurana, Manoj Bajpai and more.

‘It was the most challenging film because I have never done such a character before’, said Manoj about playing a gay character that was named Siras in Aligarh.

India has a long way to go in terms of gender issues and is still struggling to get many aspects like casting and treatment of women. Case in point is the controversy created by Shahid Kapoor’s Kabir Singh which was criticized for toxic masculinity.

Thappad was touted to be a response to Kabir Singh. “Everyone should do one thing they feel will take us towards gender equality – and getting rid of stereotypes and conditioning will surely be a step in that direction,” said Tapsee Pannu who played the protagonist in the movie.


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