LGBTQ+ Representation in Hindi Cinema After the Decriminalization of Homosexuality

The LGBTQ+ community has been stigmatized and discriminated against in all parts of the world, including India. The decriminalization of homosexuality by the Supreme Court of India in 2018 was a historic win for the LGBTQ+ community's fight for equality. Yet, everyday acceptance remains elusive, including representations in popular culture. Media content shapes the beliefs and values of people, having not only objective effects on society, but also reinforcing the social function of discrimination. Since India is a major producer of, as well as market for movies, this paper aims to study the representation of the LGBTQ+ community in Hindi cinema, this includes both the commercial and non-commercial Hindi movies produced for national distribution across India. The study aims to discover how the 2018 judgment affected the decisions of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) as well the quality of representation in the films themselves. The main objective of this study is to compare examples of representations of queer characters in mainstream Hindi cinema before and after the 2018 judgment decriminalizing homosexuality in a thematic content analysis to identify negative stereotypes and qualities of positive representations. The findings are presented in the form of an illustrated argument, which allows readers to learn visually and form opinions about the issue by directly comparing the difference in queer representation before and after decriminalization.