Queer Representation in Bollywood: A discussion with Kareem Khubchandani
One word to describe the representation of most queer Bollywood characters: PROBLEMATIC.
From John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan in Dostana to the dean Rishi Kapur plays in Student of the Year, queer representation in Bollywood has most often been for comedic value. The film industry seems to profit off of the presentation of homosexuality in a way convenient to them. While new TV shows such as Made in Heaven and Sacred Games shift away from these stereotypes, what will it take for the mainstream Bollywood industry to change its ways?
Join SARC and TASA for a conversation with Kareem Khubchandani on Queer Representation in Bollywood on Monday 29 March at 9pm EST!
Kareem Khubchandani (any pronouns) is the Mellon Bridge Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Drama & Dance and the Program in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Tufts University. He is the author of Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife (University of Michigan Press, 2020). He holds a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University, and previously served as the inaugural Embrey Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Kareem received the 2019 CLAGS Fellowship Award for the Ishtyle manuscript, and the 2017 Dance Studies Association Gertrude Lippincott Award for his essay "Snakes on the Dance Floor." Kareem is developing several book projects including: Queer Nightlife (co-edited with Kemi Adeyemi and Ramón Rivera-Servera), Decolonize Drag! and Auntologies: Queer Aesthetics and South Asian Aunties.
Kareem is also a performance artist, working in drag, storytelling, body art, theater, and digital media. His videos have been screened at the Mississauga South Asian Film Festival, Austin OUTsider multi-arts festival, Hyderabad Queer Film Festival, and San Francisco 3rd i film festival. As his alter ego LaWhore Vagistan he has performed at the Austin International Drag Festival, Mustard Seed South Asian Film Festival (Philadelphia), The Asia Society (NYC), AS220 (Providence) Queens Museum, Jack Theater (Brooklyn), Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Not Festival (Riverside), Links Hall (Chicago), and A.R.T. Oberon (Cambridge).
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Meeting ID: 918 7566 6811
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