Shweta Basu Prasad Feels India Cinema Needs To Explore Lot More LGBTQIA+ Stories: Its Happening But Slowly | EXCLUSIVE

Shweta Basu Prasad recently attended a press conference for the announcement of the 15th edition of KASHISH Pride Film Festival 2024 that will take place between of May 15 to 19. The event will be hosted across prominent locations in Mumbai including Liberty Cinema (Marine Lines), Alliance Française & Cinepolis (Andheri West). In an exclusive interview with Zoom at the sidelines of the conference Shweta Basu Prasad shared her thoughts on the representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in Indian Cinema. Check it out below.

It feels great to be on the jury panel for the student short films at the KASHISH Pride Film Festival. There were six short films that we watched. I feel very happy to be part of the festival because, it's nice to be a part of a conversation that needs much attention. I think the more aware we are, the better the society will be because then we can explore and talk about it and normalise the whole thing, celebrate the diversity. And that's what the film festival is about. So I was very happy.

I haven't seen all the films but of course I think what it gives is a platform and the due attention that the community and it's people requires and. I think it starts a conversation and a dialogue that can, normalise the whole community as they are just like any other individual like you and me and because it's a human story at the end of the day. So I think that's the biggest contribution they're making to the community.

I think in India we need to do a lot more when it comes to the representation of the LGBTQIA+ community and I think it is truly happening but at a very slow pace. We need to see more stories surrounding them and not just to make them part of a tick box kind of inclusivity. There needs to be more stories that are interesting, that are based on human conflicts. I think India needs to explore a lot more in the LGBTQIA+ community in terms of storytelling and characters for sure.

I think first we need to just dismiss the idea of making it about inclusivity because of course, it's not just about inclusivity. While it is interesting to see that most OTT platforms have an LGBTQ community person represented in most stories, films and series, but it shouldn't just be limited to that. It can be an entire series about, the community and that should be normal. Why should it be just one character just for the sake of including it? If you're including it, great, but, it shouldn't be something that's mandatory. Maybe you're just sort of doing it out of a mandate. But I think it'll be nice when you see more normal stories, like you'll know more normal stories from everybody else.

Bring it on. BRING IT ON.

Lovely. Ever growing, ever evolving, learning and falling in love with what I do with my art with every passing year.