Not quite a rainbow

On August 27, the first of a 12-episode web series, 'The Other Love Story', released on YouTube. Except for the handful of people who had helped the curator, Roopa Rao, fund the film, the remaining population of YouTubers was just getting initiated into an all-new narrative of homosexual romance. At least as far as the Indian market went.
Bengaluru-based Rao, who started working on the series almost 18 months ago, laid out a few cardinal rules before she set off - she would not alter the content/style of the script, the series would carry no aggressive mission to sensitise people on alternate sexuality, and it would depict the real life dynamic between an Indian middle class lesbian couple.As of now, the latest episode stands at 7,906 views.
But it wasn't before several producers threw their hands up at the '28 lakh budget that Rao had pitched for the series that she finally resorted to crowdfunding on Wishberry. This managed to cover over 50% of her budget, before Harini Daddala of UK-based Justlikethat Films came on board to fund the rest, following the immense publicity Rao's idea was gaining online.
"My experience suggests that there is a sense of fear in attempting anything that far from the usual," says Rao. She is just one of the growing breed of young Indian filmmakers who are determined to practically explore sexual diversity in their work, but cannot owing to unwilling investors.
In Chennai, filmmaker Mani Shankar Iyer began scripting his Tamil film, 'Magizhvan' ('Gay'), which revolves around two young gay men's day-to-day conflicts and yearning for validation from their families, two years ago. He had to scrap his dream to release it as a full-length feature film as he received zero support from producers. Finally, he released it as a featurette as it allowed him a smaller budget and spared the need for a censor certificate or dealing with distributors, which is essential for a theatrical release.
"Producers were reluctant because homosexual acts remain a criminal offence in India. But Censor Board officials asked me to remove the word 'gay' from the film. It beat the purpose of making the film, besides perpetuating the very intolerance I was fighting against," says Iyer, who is now contemplating releasing a feature version of the film later this year and funding it on his own.
However, change is brewing at queer film festivals across India. Chennai hosts two - the Chennai International Queer Film Festival and the Chennai Rainbow Film Festival. While they do manage to elicit some thought-provoking discussions on gender diversity among the handful of their heterosexual audience, progress is still slow.
"Any noteworthy change will take place only when the stigma around LGBT issues ends, along with the decriminalisation of Section 377, and ancillary contributors such as more inclusive families, educational institutions and workplaces," says L Ramakrishnan, who is part of the organising team of the Chennai International Queer Film Festival.