Bodies in Transition:

Exploring Queer Sexualities in Indian Cinema

Abstract

The paper closely studies the representations of queer bodies and sexualities in four Indian films of the last decade: Arekti Premer Golpo, Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish, Nagarkirtan and Super Deluxe. Through the comparative study, the paper will try to explore if, and how, the representations of non-normative sexualities have changed in alternative and in regional cinema, despite the lack/misrepresentation of these individuals in mainstream Hindi cinema. In the process, the questions of the performativity of gender, self and identity, desire and resistance of the queer subject and queer bodies will be addressed against the backdrop of queer theory and queer politics in global as well as in local contexts.