All you wanted to know about Kashish: Mumbai's Queer film festival

One of the most eagerly awaited events in the cityrsquos and indeed the countryrsquos queer calendar is the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival which will take place from May 27 simultaneously at the capacious art deco Liberty Cinema at Marine Lines and the cosier Alliance Francaise headquarters at Theosophy Hall barely a stonersquos throw awayOne of the performances at Kashish last year at the Liberty theatreSpanning five days the sixth edition adds the Max Mueller Bhavan in Kala Ghoda as its latest venue in part to accommodate a lsquobiggest everrsquo haul of 180 films from 44 countries that fill up an expansive itinerary of films that promises to keep even the most inveterate festivalgoers on their toesSridhar Rangayan festival directorWhile cinema remains the primary focus there will be some intriguing sidelights For instance the limited programme at the Max Mueller Bhavan will be flagged off with a reading on May 29 of Donrsquot Let Him Know the compelling first novel by Sandip Roy released by Bloomsbury Publishing in January this yearSlowly ebbing desires and the ennui of middleclass repression of the kind readily identifiable to gay audiences themselves caught up in the grips of societal oppression are an indelible part of the book which has already garnered Roy much critical praise and the event is sure to be a selloutSimilarly in association with the festival Gallery Beyond in Fort have curated an exhibition of artworks around the theme lsquoFreedom To Choosersquo some of which will be exhibited at festival venues The complete showcase can be viewed at the stateoftheart auspices of the contemporary art gallery for two fortnights from May 23 This is likely to provide an eclectic diversion to festival fare for those whorsquore looking to travel to town for a dayrsquos outing or twoWith eateries like the 100yearold Sassanian Bakery and Boulangerie with its reasonably priced Parsi fare and the Green Onion which offers Nigerian food alongside delectable Lucknowi cuisine all within earshot of Liberty Cinema the cineaste needs only to come armed with an appetite for cinema and an elevated attention spanAustraliaThe Country in Focus at the festival this year will be Australia giving us a glimpse of a developed country in which Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender LGBT populations now enjoy the same freedoms as their straight counterparts Australia has renounced its version of the lsquosodomy lawrsquo Section 377 in India for those who came in late in an incremental manner from 1975 when the capital territory repealed the law to 1997 Tasmania was the last state to legalise homosexualityThis drawnout process finds echoes in Indiarsquos own slow and interminably in limbo march towards decriminalisation Two Australian films widely hailed as the best examples of contemporary queer cinema Ana Kokkinosrsquos 1998 film Head On which deals with a young repressed GreekCypriot man living in innercity Melbourne and The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert the exuberant cult classic from 1994 featuring marquee names Hugo Weaving Terence Stamp and Guy Pearce that galvanised a whole generation of queer folk are welcome inclusions to the itineraryThrough internet piracy alone these films have captured the imagination of gay audiences worldwide and can now finally be viewed by Indian audiences on the big screen although Priscillarsquos soundtrack boasts of several heady disco numbers that have long been staples at gay parties A big ticket feature will be the much appreciated Love is Strange from director Ira Sachs whose Keep The Lights On was one of the best films to ever screen at Kashish in 2013This film with John Lithgow Alfred Molina and Marisa Tomei is the story of Ben and George a samesex couple from Manhattan who get married after 39 years together Another lsquotribute to the beauty of commitment in the face of adversityrsquo is the Centrepiece Documentary Feature Alex and Ali from director Malachi Leopold in which two men an American and an Iranian are separated for three decades and then reunitedldquoWhile the story is devastating it represents the realities faced by most LGBT individuals around the world mdash individuals who are depending on our courage to shine a spotlight on injustice and to continue the fight for equalityrdquo says LeopoldIntegrationOne thing Kashish has done away with is having a designated day for ladies Although this was meant to encourage female festivalgoers to come out in larger numbers it also created a line of division in an already fractured niche Now the programming integrates lesbian gay and transgender films in more balanced ways There is always more material geared towards gay men but this is the bane of gay film festivals worldwideOne of the most anticipated panels will be on transgender issues including the illusory nature of the landmark NALSA ruling that accorded thirdgender identity to transgenders This will take place along with the screening of the Marathi film Jayjaykar from director Shantanu Rode incidentally produced by gay icon Rakhi Sawant which revolves around the relationship between a gang of four eunuchs and an army major played by Dilip PrabhavalkarAs has been the trend for the last several editions the number of films in the Indian Panorama have been steadily increasing Kashish has provided an invaluable platform for amateur directors who may not get a foot in through the door at more competitive mainstream avenues While this can come with the tag of lsquogay filmmakerrsquo that even the festival director Sridhar Rangayan has struggled with for years some have made the most of itFor example Rohan Kanawade will open his second Kashish film Sundar made on a shoestring budget in which a young boy yearns to perform at Navratri dressed in a stunning ghagra choli that he knows only he can carry off with elan Pradipta Ray returns with a third film Guy Next Door on the quixotic nature of online dating Kanawade and Ray had both won the Riyad Wadia Award for Best emerging Filmmaker in earlier editions of Kashish named after the queer film pioneer who had made the pathbreaking Bomgay in 1996From more robust antecedents comes Anup Singhrsquos internationally acclaimed Punjabi drama Qissa that has recently enjoyed a threeweek run at city theatres but will now be playing to an exclusive queer audience for the first time as Kashishrsquos Centrepiece Narrative Feature Tillotama Shome is consummate as Kanwar a girl forcibly brought up as a boy and married off to another girlThe theme for this yearrsquos Kashish on a poster designed by Niharika RastogiAn electric Rasika Dugal as the wife and Shome give us an alternative pairing for the ages in a tale fraught with heartbreaking conflicts ldquoThe film like the festival seeks to open every tale to another one encouraging multiple points of view instead of entrapping us in just one way of looking at the worldrdquo says SinghldquoThe films are about acceptance of diversity whether it is about ethnicity age gender sex and sexual orientation mdash by society families friends and most importantly the ones we loverdquo says Rangayan It is precisely because the films at Kashish casts people in such affirmative light that makes it a grand coming out party for so many people denied their humanity elsewhereSchedules can be viewed on the Kashish website httpmumbaiqueerfestcom