Author Manish Gaekwad Reminds Us Of Irrfan Khan’s Banned Homosexual Romance ‘Adhura’, Calls Out Bollywood’s Weak Queer Representation

Author Manish Gaekwad Reminds Us Of Irrfan Khan’s Banned Homosexual Romance ‘Adhura’, Calls Out Bollywood’s Weak Queer Representation

Bollywood is not new to queer representation. The Indian entertainment industry has been making films with queer themes and LGBTQ+ representation for a very long time now. While it hasn’t always been able to do justice to the theme, some films for the past were much much ahead of their time and that’s probably why they’ve been banned or looked down upon. One such film was late actor Irrfan Khan starrer 1995 film Adhura. It was said to be India’s first-ever openly gay film. Produced and directed by Ashish Balram Nagpal, the film was all about homosexuality. And it looks like this film not only remains forgotten but also locked in Bollywood’s closet. But a Twitter user decided to give us all a little reminder about how this film was an apt representation of homosexuality as compared to all the problematic queer characters shown by Bollywood back in the day. The user also spoke about other Bollywood films that had apt LGBTQ+ representation and how things might have been different had Adhura been released back then.

Sharing a collage of shots from Irrfan Khan starrer Adhura, freelance writer and author Manish Gaekwad said that Irrfan’s contribution to the queer cinema continues to remain locked away in a closet while calling him “one of the finest actors”. He shared that Adhura was banned in 1995 as the Censor board did not approve of same-sex romance back then while sharing some information about the plot of the film as well as the rest of the cast namely – Kitu Gidwani who played the role of Irrfan Khan’s wife in the film.

Manish went on to share excerpts from articles and interviews about Adhura from the past. In one of the excerpts from one of Irrfan Khan’s interviews shared by the writer, the actor said that he has no qualms about playing gay roles and that he does not think that it will be detrimental to his career. He also shared that he does not care about his image or log kya kahenge.

Pointing out that the film was banned by CBFC and never release, the Twitter user said that while Adhura was publicised as the first Hindi film to openly deal with gay love, the fact is that the 1971 film Badnam Basti had already done it in the past.

Author Manish Gaekwad also went on to hail Irrfan Khan for not getting “cold feet” after his film on homosexual love Adhura was banned as he went on to play another gay role in Mira Nair’s 2008 short film Migration.

Questioning if Adhura being released in 1995 would’ve changed queer representation in Indian cinema, the author went on to call out the entertainment industry for its inaccurate and “extremely problematic” queer representation. He also named some films and characters where queer representation was appalling like Anupam Kher’s Pinkoo in Mast Kalandar, Shakti Kapoor’s Jagraj in Veeru Dada and Sadashiv Amrapurkar’s Maharani in Sadak.

“Will a fair queer representation look arthouse or is arthouse the only way to narrate it?” questioned Manish Gaekwad. He went on to call out the filmmakers who come from families in the filmmaking business for their views on the queer community and for vilifying them

But at the same time, he hailed Riyad Wadia for his 1996 short film Bomgay which had an unapologetic representation of homosexual love.

He also hailed Deepa Mehta’s 1996 film Fire which received support from the LGBTQ+ community but was looked down upon by the public.

Also Read: Disney Heir Charlee Corra Comes Out As Transgender, Says They Could Have Done Much More To Oppose Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill

Pointing out that MTV brought around a change in Bollywood in the 90s, the writer wondered if Adhura’s release would’ve encouraged Shah Rukh Khan, who wanted to play the role of an intersex character in 1996 which did not pan out in the end, to make a queer film. Sharing that being an outsider, SRK tried to do something offbeat, Manish said that Bollywood pushed the actor to keep it STRAIGHT and then Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge happened.

Well, at least someone is calling out Bollywood for its sloppy and derogatory representation of the BLGBTQ+ community back in the day. While we’re all hailing the changing times and the decent quality of the queer representation in Bollywood, the fact remains that we still have a long way to go. Here’s to hoping we actually get to watch Irrfan Khan’s Adhura one fine day.

Photo Credits: Indiacontent.com/Adhura

Exclusive: ‘Badhaai Do’ Script Consultant Manish Gaekwad Opens Up About Authentic Portrayal Of Queer Love On Screen

Janvi Manchanda

​​She uses her pen to slice through patriarchy. She could be Geet one day, Wednesday Addams next. Writing is the bane of her existence and the object of all her desires!

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