A Comparative Study of LGBT+ Characters in Indian Cinema with its Latin American counterparts

Abstract

Latin American countries and India share almost similar history broadly. In fact, the basic characteristics of the structure of Cinema in these countries are quite similar. In this background, this paper deals with a comparative study of LGBT characters in the Cinema of these countries, also tries to study the impact of patriarchy. To study the comparison, many texts, books, and cinema have been referred to. The characters were analysed through the lenses of the socio-political milieu of the time. We must understand a character is not a onedimensional entity, it is a multi-dimensional one. After studying various texts and Cinema, it was found that both societies have a common thread i.e. patriarchy and it depicts in cinema as well. Both societies shied away to portray a positive, all-round portrayal of LGBT character for a long time but after 2000 things are slowly changing. Ultimately one must agree that in the race to portray equality of gender and sexuality in Cinema, Latin American Countries have surpassed India, especially in the recent past. Although there have been few Indian films that portrayed LGBT characters in a more humane light, by and large, it has been caught wanting.