Filmmakers from Karnataka, Manipur, HP, Gujarat talk on LGBTQIA+ narratives at Kashish

The 15th edition of KASHISH Film Festival 2024 had its first Panel Discussion session on “LGBTQIA+ Narratives in Regional Cinema” with panelists Jeo Baby, Rohit Prajapati, Kling Johnson, Priyakanta Laishram, Disha Bhardwaj and moderator Ashish Sawhny.
Panel coordinator Juhi Rajpal introduced the theme of the panel discussion which intended to focus the conversations around inclusion of queer narratives across regional language films in states of Karnataka, Manipur, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and more.
The moderator of the evening began with a quote of the Oscar winning Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho – “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”
This led to the first question for the panellists of how essential is the role of a particular language to retain the authenticity of their characters and worlds.
“Language, and culture is very important, that's how characters are made better and understood too. Subtitles is a barrier for me. Since my film Kaathal The Core is being situated in Kothad, Kochi my hometown, it became important to fine tune the screenplay accordingly,” said filmmaker Jeo Baby.
Filmmaker Priyankanta talked about his experience of making his film Oneness, in his native language which helped audience to connect better. He added, “English is not popular in Manipur. While growing up they were no queer films and so I felt the need to make queer films in my language.” Many Hindi films are being banned in Manipur, but people still watch commercial films instead of parallel cinema and so the audience for films like Priyankanta’s are less.
When asked about placing their films amongst the regional cinema audiences, which is understood to be conservative towards queer content, the panelists made some interesting points.
Rohit Prajapati director of Kaatla Curry which is based in Gujarat had passionate love making scenes, and the filmmaker wasn’t hesitant to say that “This film is not made for the regional audience, but holds a mirror to the conservative society. Rohit focused on the original language, culture and local dialects to present the story authentically.
This also brought the moderator to ask about the process of casting for the respective films.
“Having stars like Mammoothy and Jyotika for the film worked in our favour,” said Jeo Baby. Having commercial stars to play a queer character on screen helped the film to reach a wider audience.
While for Disha Bhardwaj’s film Chupi Roh having locals as actors for her film brought the rawness and relatability factor, which made the storytelling part even more honest.
The whole debate of casting queer actors or non-queer actors to play queer roles on screen was also a question brought in by Ashish.
Sensitization workshops with actors helped the filmmakers to understand the comfort level of their leads, as well as to learn to tackle tough situations where the actor isn’t ready to do a particular scene.
“It is a sin in Karnataka to show men kissing on screen, I kept it very less for the actors’ comfort,” explained Kling Johnson, director of Dvamdva.
The session came to a close with questions from the audience and the panelists were later felicitated for their participation in the evening’s conversation.