Swara Bhaskar, Divya Dutta to star in queer drama Sheer Kurma, directed by Faraz Arif Ansari

Faraz Arif Ansari, who previously made the LGBTQ short film Sisak, will helm the queer drama Sheer Kurma, starring Swara Bhaskar and Divya Dutta in the lead. Veteran actress Surekha Sikri is also part of the cast, writes  Times of India. [caption id=“attachment_6936271” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Divya Dutta and Swara Bhaskar. Image from Twitter[/caption] “The idea of Sheer Khurma came to me while I was traveling to various film festivals for the last two years with Sisak. I realised that everyone is talking about gay men or bisexual men, but nobody was really talking about women in the LGBTQIA+ community. There are very few films from the LGBTQIA+ spectrum that talk about women as protagonists. Other than that, nobody is really talking about religion and sexuality, which I think is imperative, given the world we live in. I think religion, by default, becomes a part of our socio-political understanding in the world we live in today, and I wanted to make a gentle story, with a backdrop of religion and sexuality,” Ansari told TOI. Sheer Kurma will follow a queer woman searching for her sense of belonging, identity and acceptance from her family. Ansari said that he chose Bhaskar and Dutta as they are “strong allies of the LGBTQIA+ community.” He revealed that when he started writing the film, he had already envisioned Dutta as part of it. Dutta also spoke to TOI and said she had no reservations in being attached to this film. She explained that for it is not just a film but a story about relationships including the protagonists’ with her family and partner. She said that she took up the role because she wants to challenge herself as an actor. Dutta was last seen in Netflix’s _Music Teacher_ alongside Manav Kaul, Amrita Bagchi and Neena Gupta. Meanwhile, Bhaskar was part of the buddy comedy Veere Di Wedding , alongside Sonam Kapoor Kareena Kapoor and Shikha Talsania.