The queer community has brought in a whole new spectrum of storytelling and taken the audiences on a refreshing journey with these characters having their own story arcs. The due credit goes to the visionary filmmakers who channeled this undaunted expression of love and life in stories that needed to be told for decades and that the audiences were excitedly looking forward to. Be it BJ from The Night Manager or Saira from Human, these characters on Disney+ Hotstar stand tall as they broke the shackles and emerged as strong portrayals with an important role to play in the storytelling and more than anything, were one of the coolest folks on screen!
Talking about the representation of the LGBTQIA+ community on-screen change slowly and steadily, Vipul Amrutlal Shah said, “Over the years, I feel that some amount of change has happened in the way people have seen the LGBTQIA+ community, but my biggest problem still is that we try and separate them and I think we need to stop doing that. We need to show them as normal as anybody else and that would be the only right representation of the entire community. We have progressed from where we were, but I think we are too slow in accepting their rights and presenting them as as natural and as normal as anybody else. In the show Human, Saira, Kirti’s character is not from the LGBTQIA+ community but we wanted to show her as normal as anybody else would be. I think she did the job very well and that’s why she came across as a very real and natural character.”
Talking about his thought process behind the gay characters in The Night Manager and Aarya, Creator and Director, Sandeep Modi said, “I have had two opportunities to bring to light this paradigm shift, firstly in Aarya through the representation of ACP Khan who does not want to publicly accept his identity and secondly in The Night Manager, Brij Pal’s (BJ) character who is open about his sexuality and carries his identity on his sleeve. Both these characters are very distinct and it was a fun challenge for me to put these characters in place while also taking care that the characters don’t come across as the stereotypical ones. The audience also is becoming more open and accepting of the idea that these characters represent the truth of our times and the fact that on – screen characters have taken the lead to not only show a mirror to the society but also show a path of how we should be more inclusive in our thoughts and actions. I feel proud of being in this industry where Indian filmmakers and the audience are accepting the characters from this community with equal and more love and respect.”
Tune into Disney+ Hotstar to watch the ace filmmakers ace queer characters and their journeys with one show at a time!
