When British actor Riz Ahmed recently spoke of misrepresentation of Muslims in Hollywood, it resonated with filmmaker Faraz Arif Ansari, who feels the same about queer representation in Indian cinema. Representation is a word that weighs heavily with the filmmaker, and though he feels that queer representation has become better than before, he says marginalised persons from the community, like lesbians, transgender, non-binary, queer Muslims, rarely find a space in cinema, TV or OTT shows in India. “The stories are mostly about cis gay men, that too not progressive but feeding to the stereotype,” says Faraz, who is doing his bit to change this narrative. His short film Sheer Qorma, starring Shabana Azmi, Swara Bhasker and Divya Dutta has won a lot of praise at various film festivals. The film is a letter of acceptance, love and understanding from a Muslim non-binary queer woman to their mom.

In a Pride Month special interview, Faraz speaks about why a progressive portrayal of queer people is needed more than ever today and why it is time to tell queer stories by queer people and not give that space to anyone else. Read on...

“The reason why I made Sheer Qorma was because it talks about the underrepresented community in global cinema. There are no Indian films about non-binary people, queer women, trans people. We don’t see them as protagonists. The representation of the underrepresented is something that I am very keen on as a filmmaker. Be it my trans, non-binary or queer Muslim siblings — my films will always have a space for them. I am as much of a Muslim as I am a queer person, and it is non-negotiable. I think that needs to be understood and respected,” says Faraz.

He also adds that steps need to be taken towards inclusivity. “I was reading a tweet of a man from the US that said that every time he watches American TV, he does not see white people in it. To that, someone replied, ‘Now you know what representation means.’ In the US, so many people of colour are getting representation. The Academy Awards have made it mandatory to have representation and nominations — these are the steps towards inclusivity and progressivism. Are we doing this in India? No!”

Faraz has been vocal about existing prejudices against non-binary, transgender people and queer Muslims, even within the LGBTQIA+ community. And he feels unless queer people take that space up to tell their stories, nothing will change.

“The reason why I always stress on positive representation is that queer narrative was always put forth by heterosexual people — so, we were shown in scandalous storylines. We need to take those spaces and tell our truth. We rarely see queer characters on Indian TV. Ads or big brands rarely show us in a healthy and happy relationship. And what we see on OTT feeds on the stereotype. It is 2021 — in the US, they are making shows on trans people of colour. What are we doing — we are paying cis-gender actors to play queer roles — and surprisingly, they are not even allies. I feel this also needs to be said — hire queer people, pay queer people and give us our space. We need progressive queer content narrated and represented by queer people,” stresses Faraz, who does the same for his projects.

Faraz is happy to see changes such as the new inclusive LGBTQIA+ flag, the Madras High Court ban on medical attempts to cure sexual orientation; changes to school curricula to educate students about queer people. However, he feels that due to prevalent discrimination, queer people are still generations behind when it comes to equality.

“I am genuinely impressed with the Madras High Court judgement — these are basic human rights. We were waiting for this judgement for years. Now, I really want to see it being activated in our society. But we are generations behind when it comes to equality,” he says.