Valentine's Day Special: 9 best Indian films celebrating LGBTQ romances
Abhimanyu Mathur
Fire (1996): Deepa Mehta’s poignant and radical film on loneliness focussed on two sisters-in-law falling for each other
My Brother Nikhil (2005): Focussing on the ostraciztion and discrimination faced by the LGBTQ community, Onir’s film remains timeless
Memories in March (2010): Rituparno Ghosh’s classic focusses on a mother’s discovery of her late son’s sexuality and coming to terms with it
Aligarh (2015): Powered by a Manoj Bajpayee masterclass, this Hansal Mehta film was based on the true story of Professor Siras
Iratta Jeevitham (2017): The Malayalam film told the story of a trans man and his love story with a woman from his village
Nagarkirtan (2017): The poignant love story of a trans woman and a musician in Kolkata won laurels at various award shows
Sisak (2018): The award-winning short film from Faraz Arif Ansari had no dialogue but beautifully showed the closeted reality of many LGBTQ people in India
Moothon (2019): A rare commercial crime drama with a bisexual protagonist, this film was applauded for its tender queer romance
Geeli Puchi (2021): A maserful intersection of caste and sexuality, Neeraj Ghaywan’s film was part of the anthology Ajeeb Dastaans