Has Indian cinema truly become inclusive?

Indian cinema is heading towards inclusivity and   _Jalsa_ is a burning example in front of us. Filmmakers, artists, producers and casting directors are of the opinion that Jalsa has taken the disability representation in Indian cinema a couple of notches high. The OTT platform seems to have played a very important role in bringing about inclusivity in Indian cinema be it queer representation, disability or body positivity.

Embracing disability

Anmol Ahuja, casting director for Jalsa and Co-Founder of Casting Bay says, “When we read the script of Jalsa we knew that it would be challenging for us to find a child with cerebral palsy and can act but that’s the fun part of the work. So we started our research and we knew that we have to, as a team, crack this, because this will be something special not only for us but also for the child who eventually plays this part. So during rigorous research, we found Surya Kasibhatla in Texas, US and surprisingly Surya had posted a cricket video which was very similar to our first scene in the film with Ayush in Jalsa.”

The character played by Surya in Jalsa was well researched and the team of Jalsa had to go to different schools on the lookout for the right actor. Ahuja says, “While we were researching for the character we went to different schools, organisations, individuals who are working with kids with special conditions. Through one of the channels, we found out about this boy who now has shifted to the US but is a bright child and one should definitely explore. Because his parents were supportive so that’s how we found him after a couple of auditions and personal sessions with him.”

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Vidya Balan who played mother to Surya in Jalsa says, “It is wonderful that we had the opportunity to be inclusive in Jalsa. The story allowed us to do that and most importantly we found in Surya Kasibhatla a wonderful actor. While I am all for inclusivity, I do think that if we haven’t found a good actor with cerebral palsy, we may not have been able to cast Surya in the role of ‘Ayush’. We got really lucky in finding Surya as filmmaker Suresh Triveni always wanted to cast someone with cerebral palsy. It is just fantastic to see the number of kids that were auditioned to get a person who fitted the role perfectly. Surya is not a trained actor and we were all stunned to see how beautifully he was responding when the director called out for action. He is like a born actor and it was unbelievable to see the way he was performing with a disability. I can’t emphasize enough that we all feel very happy that we could have Surya in the film. But the icing on the cake really is the fact that he is a fantastic actor.”

Body positivity is the way forward

OTT doesn’t put actors inside boxes whether you are short, tall fat, thin, dark, fair everybody is a hero and has a special role to play. Mainstream cinema too has made a shift and has made it acceptable to all shapes, colour and size. Beauty too is constantly evolving and the film industry now doesn’t force you to fit in, but makes you stand out no matter what shape, size or colour you are. Actor Abhishek Banerjee of Patal Lok, Mirzapur and Rashmi Rocket fame once said, “I am a hero because of the digital platform.”

Veteran actor Anupam Kher mentioned in an interview with Firstpost, that today how you look doesn’t matter. In fact, how different you look will give you more chances of being noticed. “Earlier when I wanted to be an actor, the main criteria were that an actor needs to have hair on their head. Now there are no such criteria. I had an awful experience during my initial years of struggle in the entertainment industry. Now I have a very dignified sexy bold look.”

But this is not what it used to be back then when Anupam Kher started my acting career. He added, “When one starts balding, initially half hair is going from left side and half from right side and I was very thin too. So, nobody took me seriously. They felt that I can become an assistant director or a scriptwriter, but not an actor. I had to break the stereotype with my hard work and talent. And because I was a drama school student, I knew acting. It was a matter of just getting the right opportunity. I remember I used to keep dialling up filmmakers every day and pleading for roles. Sometimes they responded, but most of the times they didn’t. They used to ask me to leave my photograph outside their offices. It was a real bumpy ride. But today if you are unable to make it, I would say it’s your fault.”

LGBTQ stories represented with empathy and hope

Queer representation too in Indian cinema has come a long way from those caricaturish, stereotypical, pathetic portrayals in the 60s and 70s and even up to 80s and 90s - which was rife with men dressing as women, limp wrists, queers hitting on the hero, queers being beaten up, dying, etc. Gay men, transgender and drag queens were used mainly for humour or drama, or there was usually the hero dressed as a girl for fun or as a covert operation, etc. Punit Misra, President content and international market, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) says, “OTT is inherently inclusive the way it is designed because you are designing differently for the consumption of people across the world.”

LGBTQ+ filmmakers like Onir, Rituparno Ghosh and Shonali Bose and Sridhar Rangayan have portrayed LGBTQ stories with lot more empathy and a sense of hope. Whereas, the non-LGBTQ+ filmmakers nowadays, while approaching the subject matter with empathy, leave a sense of sadness, a sense of rejection and loneliness for the characters, though not as horrid or awful as in the past.

Sridhar Rangayan, filmmaker who has made films with special focus on queer subjects says, “Bollywood’s treatment of LGBTQ+ characters have always been abysmal. But South Indian cinema and Bengali cinema have been much more progressive in their portrayals, more sensitive I would say. Only recently in the 2000s and further have been an emergence of sporadic portrayals of gay or transgender characters where they were treated with empathy. And you will be able see a clear distinction in the treatment in films made by LGBTQ+ filmmakers and non-LGBTQ+ filmmakers.”

While mainstream cinema continues to marginalize LGBTQ+ stories, with one or two sporadic good portrayals among hundreds and thousands of films made every year, I have more hope from the independent films, the documentary films and short films. As per our experience at KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, which we have been hosting for the past 12 years, we almost receive 60 Indian LGBTQ+ film submissions every year. And these films are nuanced, layered, and hold a true mirror to the reality of LGBTQ+ lives. They also address intersectional issues like queer and religion, queer and caste, queer and disability, queer and law, etc. The only problem is these films do not have the means to reach the wider mainstream audiences, because they don’t have big stars, they have been made with limited finances, and do not have budgets to promote their films. We at KASHISH are trying to change this soon by making many of these films available on mainstream OTT platforms.

The independent, documentary and short films also bring forth stories rural areas, address stories of transmen, non-binary persons, etc. who do not ever figure in mainstream cinema. They also most of the time cast real life trans and non-binary persons in lead roles. Regarding casting non-trans actors for trans characters, Rangayan feels that should change immediately.  He says, “We always cast a male actor to play male parts and female actors to play female parts, right? So you should cast trans actors to play transgender characters. It is as simple as that. For gay, lesbian, bisexual and queer roles too I feel the filmmakers should definitely try to audition and give and equal opportunity for community members. And it also important to involve LGBTQ+ writers and other technicians as part of our crew so that they can inform the project better.”

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