Section 377 Verdict: Dear Bollywood, It is time to give the LGBTQ community its due on the silver screen

6th September 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalised Section 377. This historic judgement was welcomed by netizens from all walks of life. Not so far away, our very own Bollywood celebrities too voiced their opinion.

By Ilika Srivastava

Updated on Sep 07, 2018 | 10:14 PM IST | 3.2M

6th September 2018, the Supreme Court of India decriminalised Section 377. This historic judgement was welcomed by netizens from all walks of life. Not so far away, our very own Bollywood celebrities too voiced their opinion. Unanimously they gave a huge huge thumbs up to this landmark judgement. But that also brings us to the issue of the portrayal of homosexuals in Bollywood films. We are sure right now Kanta Ben would be out there somewhere screaming at the verdict but in reality, Bollywood could learn a big lesson of being progressive in the true sense from the Supreme Court of India.

Let's talk about one of the biggest banners of the film industry, Dharma Productions, helmed by Karan Johar who on more than one occasions has talked about his sexuality. In fact his autobiography, The Unsuitable Boy also has a mention of his gender preference. Karan Johar writes, “Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is. I don’t need to scream it out. If I need to spell it out, I won’t. Only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this. Which is why I Karan Johar will not say the three words that possibly everybody knows about me," While Karan Johar might still contemplate whether to say those three words, the filmmaker has surely come a long way when it comes to portraying homosexuals in films. He is famous for giving us Kanta Ben from Kal Ho Na Ho, Sameer aka Abhishek Bachchan from Dostana or even Dean Yogendra Vashishth aka Rishi Kapoor from Student of The Year. All these were caricaturish and did not do real justice to the community.

But the Dharma scion has visibly evolved, from reducing the community to a joke to progressively attempting to make cinema that voices the unfulfilled love of the LGBTQ community, KJo has indeed broken out of his own shackles. Bombay Talkies was a big bold step when Johar made a short film, Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh on gay men and their love for each other. Though the short film stuck true to the Dharma banner, larger than life with big stars, (Rani Mukerji, Randeep Hooda and Saqib Saleem) Karan's twist of love did shock everyone. Not because it depicted homosexuality but because never before Karan Johar had portrayed homosexuality in its true form. Thankfully KJo continued his tryst with homosexuality in films with Kapoor and Sons. Who can forget Fawad Khan and his revelation in the end?

Karan, however, isn’t the only one. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is another big name who dabbled with homosexuality in Padmaavat. Binte Dil song perfectly captured the essence of two men in love; Khilji and Malik Kafur. Hansal Mehta's Aligarh too found its voice being muzzled earlier, but his resilience helped it see the light of the day.

Supreme Court not just abolished section 377 today, it also abolished mindsets, notions, false opinions and judgements that came along with it. Cinema, as we know, is the biggest influencer we have in India today. It owns the power to shape a mindset and influence like no other. With very few filmmakers wanting to touch on the topic of homosexuality on the big screen, today's ruling should be a big learning for them. Not just the courts, the real India too, has progressed.