BadhAai Do and Sheer Qorma lead a dazzling array of Indian LGBTQ+ films at KASHISH 2022
30 Indian LGBTQ+ films to be screened at Liberty Cinema from June 1-5, 2022
KASHISH 2022, South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ+ film festival will kick start June Pride Month on June 1st, screening around 194+ films from 53 Countries at Liberty Cinema (1-5), Alliance Française de Bombay (2-4) and online (3-12)
Indian LGBTQ+ films lead with the highest number of films at the festival, totaling 31 films that include feature length narrative films, documentary films and short films.
“We are super thrilled to present such an amazing collection of LGBTQ+ films from India – 30 of them! It reaffirms our position as India’s and South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ+ film festival. And to showcase all of them on the big screen at Liberty Cinema is a joy in itself. We are coming out of the pandemic lockdown for 2 years with flying colours and we hope audiences come to the festival to enjoy this grand treat we have for them”, said Sridhar Rangayan, festival director.
The festival opens on June 1st with an Indian film this year, titled Antharam in Malayalam and Tamil, about a transwoman’s journey of acceptance, played by real life transgender actress Negha.
This will be followed by big ticket films like Badhaai Do, starring Rajkumar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar and directed by Harshwardhan Kulkarni, on June 2nd and Sheer Qorma, starring Shabana Azmi, Divya Dutta and Swara Bharkar, directed by Faraz Ansari on June 4th. While Badhaai Do plays as a Special Ferature, Sheer Qorma will play as Indian Narrative Centepiece film, followed by a panel discussion titled, ‘Mainstreaming Lesbian & Non-Binary Identities’.
Other notable feature length films are Holy Wound by Asok R Nath with no dialogues, Naanu Ladies in Kannada by Shailaja Padindala, a non-binary filmmaker, July, 2020 in English directed by Sahej Nandrajog and Sanwri – Love Beyond Gender in Hindi, directed by Pallavi Roy.
Two other notable films are Trans Kashmir, about transgender community in Kashmir by Surabhi Dewan, and Mumu Shelly by Batul Mukhtiar.
Also interestingly, KASHISH 2022 will screen the first ever LGBTQ+ film in Sanskrit, titled Balbhushanani (Child Ornaments), directed by Chinmay Sudhir Shende.
There are films in various Indian languages like Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Urdu, Kashmiri and Assamese.
Registrations are open for the festival at https://www.instamojo.com/KASHISH_MIQFF/ for people to buy festival passes, with a special discount for students, transgender persons and senior citizens.
HIGHLIGHTS OF INDIAN LGBTQ+ FILMS AT KASHISH 2022
5 Indian Narrative Features out of which 1 is the opening film and 2 are playing in competition in the Narrative Features category.
20 Narrative Short films out of which 10 are in competition in Indian Narrative Shorts, Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker and Student Short categories.
4 documentary shorts, out of which 1 is in competition in Documentary Short category and 1 documentary feature which is playing as the Indian documentary centerpiece film.
LIST OF INDIAN LGBTQ+ FILMS SCREENING AT KASHISH 2022
ANTHARAM
Dir: Abhijith Pulparambath / 71 min / 2021 / Narrative Feature / Malayalam, Tamil
BADHAAI DO
Dir: Harshavardhan Kulkarni / 147 min / 2022 / Narrative Feature / Hindi
CHHOTI SHAMEEZ
Dir: Shruti Vohra / 15 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Hindi
BALBHUSHANANI (Child Ornaments)
Dir: Chinmay Sudhir Shende / 8 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Sanskrit
DAL BHAT
Dir: Nemil Shah / 32 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Gujarati, Hindi
DEAR BHARGAVA
Dir: Ramnath Shanbhag / 16 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Kannada
HER CANVAS
Dir: Sagar Devram Minde / 10 min / 2022 / Narrative Short / No Dialogues
HOLY WOUND
Dir: Asok R Nath / 90 min / 2021 / Narrative Feature / No Dialogues
IMPASSE
Dir: Tuhin Basu / 24 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Hindi, Tamil
JULY, 2020
Dir: Sahej Nandrajog / 83 min / 2021 / Narrative Feature / English
KADHAKAL ARANGILOODE
Dir: Athul Sabu Varughese / 22 min / 2021 / Documentary Short / Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil
KINAARA
Dir: Anureet Watta / 5 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / English
MAN & WIFE
Dir: Rahul Roye / 9 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Bengali, English
MITR CLINIC – PRIDE AND BEYOND
Dir: Shrikkanth Govindarajan / 10 min / 2021 / Documentary Short / English, Hindi
MUHAFIZ (The Protector)
Dir: Pradipta Ray / 18 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Gujarati, Hindi
MUMU SHELLEY
Dir: Batul Mukhtiar / 50 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Bengali, English, Hindi
NAANU LADIES
Dir: Shailaja Padindala / 90 min / 2022 / Narrative Feature / India, UK/ Kannada
KAAGAZ KE PANKH (Paper Wings)
Dir: Kshitij Kumar Pandey / 21 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / English, Hindi
GAIR (Pariah)
Dir: Nishant Roy Bombarde / 26 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Hindi
PARTNER
Dir: Trupil Sharad Patil / 14 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Marathi
SANWRI – LOVE BEYOND GENDER
Dir: Pallavi Roy / 110 min / 2022 / Narrative Feature / Hindi
SHEER QORMA
Dir: Faraz Arif Ansari / 30 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Hindi, Urdu, English
TAAP – ABOUT MERCURY ROLLING DOWN THE BODIES
Dir: Soumyajit Ghosh Dastidar / 10 min / 2019 / Narrative Short / Marathi
THE CARESS
Dir: Bhargav Lahkar / 15 min / 2022 / Narrative Short / Assamese
THE FLORIST
Dir: Priyam Chanda / 15 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Bengali
THE SORROW OF LOVE
Dir: Sohag Sen / 16 min / 2021 / Narrative Short / Bengali, English
KATHEKAGALA KANIVE (The Valley Of Stories)
Dir: Vikas Badiger / 30 min / 2021 / Documentary Short / Kannada
THIRD
Dir: Manash Pratim Dutta / 23 min / 2021 / Documentary Short / Assamese, English
THODI SI KHUSHI (A Bit Of Happiness)
Dir: Ashish Madurwar / 15 min / 2022 / Narrative Short / Hindi
TRANS KASHMIR
Dirs: Surbhi Dewan, S A Hanan / 62 min / 2022 / Documentary Feature / English, Kashmiri, Urdu
About KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival
KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is South Asia’s biggest queer film festival, and the first LGBTQ+ film festival in India to be held in a mainstream theatre. It is the first Indian LGBTQ+ festival to be held with approval by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India. Founded in 2010, KASHISH has grown to become an important medium for exhibition, production and distribution of LGBTQ+ films and the most needed platform to nurture Indian LGBTQ+ movement. KASHISH has been voted as one of the Top 5 LGBT Film Festivals in the World, and also one of the Top 5 Film Festivals in India.
Besides the annual film festival its other initiatives are KASHISH Forward – India’s first traveling campus LGBTQ+ film festival, KASHISH Global – that facilitates screening of Indian LGBTQ+ films across the world, Best of KASHISH film screenings and KASHISH Chalchitra Utsav – a festival of LGBTQ+ films in regional languages.
More information at http://mumbaiqueerfest.com
