The producer says trends do change but the harshness of reality experienced by the LGBTQIA+ community needs to be talked about.
Neeraj Churi. (Supplied)
Yearly, on average, around 2,000-plus films and several series, including TV content, are made in India. However, there are barely about 100 projects that feature characters or stories of the LGBTQIA+ community, since the inception of cinema in India.
That’s not all! The challenges one faces when producing queer content are numerous and complex, too.
In an exclusive interview with South First, queer producer and Lotus Visual Productions founder Neeraj Churi talks all about the challenges in getting funds for queer films, the systematic bias, and the hurdles faced in creating an inclusive and diverse film landscape in India.
Excerpts from the interview:
Neeraj Churi produced ‘Sheer Qorma’. (Supplied)
Q. What sparked your interest in films and then launching the production house?
A. I come from a background in software development and banking. I have been working abroad for several years. But I’m interested in video editing, which connected me to some of my LGBTQIA+ friends in India.
Through them, I learned about their challenges in making LGBTQIA+ movies in India.
Initially, I was helping the filmmakers financially, and that later progressed to undertaking full-blown productions in India and the UK.
Q. How different is it to produce a film that represents the LGBTQIA+ community?
A. While film production techniques remain the same, due to the topic’s sensitivity, we need to ensure that we are not presenting any misinformation about the LGBTQIA+ community through the content.
One needs to pay a lot of attention to the story being told — Is it authentic? Has the filmmaker/writer done sufficient research on the topic to present it truthfully?
We need to ensure that the narratives entertain and educate not only the LGBTQIA+ community, but also their parents, friends, and coworkers.
‘Sheer Qorma’ is a story about the LGBTQIA+ community. (Supplied)
Q. Tell us about your experience in making movies that represent the LQBTQIA+ community.
A. The key part is finding the right story and filmmaker. Funding such stories is often challenging.
The system for theatrical and OTT distribution of these films is still not mature, which is part of the challenge we have to deal with.
The actors that portray the stories also matter; for instance, if a story is about a transman or a transwoman, we insist that actors from that community are given a chance to act. We don’t cross-dress regular men/women to play roles of transgender people like many in the Indian film industry tend to do.
Q. Please share your strategies and insights to overcome financial barriers in the production of these films.
A. Our strategy is to educate more financiers within and outside the LGBTQIA+ community by convincing them that queer stories can make for entertaining cinema that is commercially viable.
LGBTQIA+ stories are popular not just in India but across the world. We bring this expertise in promoting and distributing these stories in the wider global markets that offer better returns and give our filmmakers global recognition.
We also use international grants and institutional support to bring stories to life.
Still, wider challenges remain, partly due to ignorance of the importance of such stories, and partly through homophobia and transphobia from investors.
Swara Bhaskar and Divya Dutta in ‘Sheer Qorma’. (Supplied)
Q. Tell us about Sheer Qorma (2021) and your association with Shabana Azmi, Divya Dutta, and Swara Bhaskar who were part of it.
A. Sheer Qorma, a short based on the LGBTQIA+ theme, created history by bringing together a stellar star cast of amazingly talented actors.
We were excited to support filmmaker Faraz Ansari in their bold vision for the story and encouraged them to make groundbreaking casting decisions on the film.
Thanks to the involvement of these luminaries, it created a history of being the first Indian film ever to win an Audience Choice Award at the San Francisco-based Frameline Festival, the largest LGBTQIA+ film festival in the world.
Sheer Qorma has won 60-plus international awards in over 150 festivals.
Q. Tell us about your experience in producing My Mother’s Girlfriend (2021), Muhafiz (2022), Queer Parivaar (2022), and Ek Jagah Apni (2022).
A. A common friend introduced me to Pradipta Ray (the maker of Muhafiz). The subject and her treatment of the story convinced me to come on board in making it — which was lingering for several years — a reality.
Every year, we sponsor the Kashish QDrishti Film Grant, a contest to seek and produce the best LGBTQIA+ short scripts in India.
My Mother’s Girlfriend, by Arun Fulara, won this grant and went on to win the Best Short Film in India at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, besides many other international awards.
The spell-binding performances by Sushma Deshpande and Anju Alva Naik in narrating the story of same-sex desires in older women resonated well internationally, too.
It was a privilege to be invited to be part of Ektara Collective’s Ek Jagah Apni. The collective already made a fantastic film that we were excited to help with the completion of its post-production and get worldwide distribution for this movie.
Q. What has been the reaction of the Indian audience to queer content so far?
A poster of ‘My Mother’s Girlfriend’. (Supplied)
A. Besides films, we also run our YouTube Channel (YouTube/@LotusVisualPro) for emerging LGBTQIA+ writers/ directors to get experience and exposure in creating another channel to reach the audience.
The responses to all our films in festivals, theatres, OTTs, and YouTube in India and the UK are generally positive, though we and our filmmakers have had to deal with a fair share of threats and queerphobic messages.
The LGBTQIA+ community appreciates the representation they see on the screen beyond mere tokenism or caricaturist characters used for cheap laughs.
Q. Do you feel that movies made on the LGBTQIA+ community in India are doing justice in representing the community?
A. I often hear or meet filmmakers (usually not part of the LGBTQIA+ community) trying to jump on the bandwagon to capitalise on LGBTQIA+ issues when they are trending. I want them to know that LGBTQIA+ issues are not “trends.”
Trends and fads come and go, but the harshness of reality experienced by the LGBTQIA+ community, the hate, violence, and discrimination they face are here to stay. These issues need to be talked about and brought to the forefront.
We also see many cisgender actors trying to play the roles of transgender people as if it is an acting challenge. Not only does the acting feel unrealistic, but it also takes away the opportunity for talented transgender actors to shine on the screen.
Q. Is there enough queer content being made in India?
A. We have barely started scratching the surface of such content, and most of it has been made in the last decade.
We have so much to catch up to in terms of storytelling and positive LGBTQIA+ role models on the screen.
Q. Why is mainstream cinema still hesitating to take queer people for queer roles?
A poster of ‘Ek Jahan Apni’. (Supplied)
A. Let us break down queer identities into spectrums of gender (the gender one identifies and presents themselves) and sexuality (the gender one is attracted to).
Non-binary and transgender identities fall in the gender spectrum. To play such roles, it is vital to cast a person from the appropriate gender.
Would you cast a male actor to play a female lead in a film? Then why cast a cisgender person to play a transgender person’s role?
There is a hesitation or misunderstanding that perhaps we don’t have a transgender people acting pool in India. Still, having worked with several transmen and transwomen actors, we would like to counter that argument.
The other part is that of sexuality. In India, several actors are not out publicly about their queer attraction as it can cost them their careers. So insisting gay actors play a gay role may be a bit challenging, or as producers being public about such casting decisions in India can sometimes put the actors in harm’s way.
We hope the situation in India changes along the lines of Hollywood and the Western film industry where actors openly come out without impacting their careers. For our UK productions, we seek (and find) actors that are open about sexuality.
Q. What can be done to bring awareness to queer issues in film industries?
A. There needs to be awareness and sensitisation training about LGBTQIA+ issues right from film school — writing and directing such stories, working with queer talent and organising sensitisation workshops for those already working in the Industry.
Creating upskilling workshops targeted to the LGBTQIA+ community who can learn various aspects of filmmaking and be a part of the industry to ensure future LGBTQIA+ stories are dealt with sensitively.
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