Filmmaker Apurva Asrani, who wrote the story and dialogue for Aligarh (2015), says, “I want the othering to stop. I want queer characters to be treated like regular characters in the films so that people can identify with them and that’s what I am trying to do.”

He’s glad to see so many projects being made with queer characters, but is quick to point out that even now, a lot of homophobic people want to slot you a certain way. “I’m pitching ideas to a lot of platforms and production houses. But the moment I try and convey that we are done with tragic stories, they begin to send notes [such as on the lines of] ‘Can you add more conversion therapy?’ That narrative needs to change,” he explains.

The Loev (2015) director, who recently saw the premiere of his latest project TAPS, another queer short, at Kashish Film Festival, says: “Good, bad, beautiful, ugly, heroic or flawed — I’m just interested in accurate representations of the queer community, and there’s no agenda beyond that.” The filmmaker also points out how despite the few opportunities people get to tell these stories, ”every attempt is a huge win” and that for queer characters to truly become part of mainstream cinema, it is “essential that filmmakers feel connected to queer life and are comfortable representing it”.

The Sisak (2017) director strives to open up larger conversations that are mainstream and yet “intimate, sublime and sensitive”. Talking about their film Sheer Qorma (2021), the filmmaker says, “It does not have anyone standing on the rooftop, holding pride flags and yelling out to the world. It was relevant without being loud and crass.” Ansari adds, “Most narratives (by filmmakers who don’t identify on the queer spectrum) are a result of research and not lived experience, and so they always fall short to bring out authenticity.”

His 2022 medical drama Human, headlined by Shefali Shah and Kirti Kulhari, has an underlying story on queer relationships, and Singh wants to continue to depict the “normalcy of the whole LGBTQIA+ experience”. He says, “In stories onscreen, the queer community is often depicted in a completely different narrative. I want to show that we are all same... even queer people are humans.” The director, however, is happy that queer characters have steadily increased in number. “They increasingly have prominent roles in projects, sometimes even the lead. It goes to show that queer characterization is being treated in the mainstream in a normal way,” he notes.