Saas bahu is so last decade! Welcome to the new TV trope in town – same sex relationships, aka gay/lesbian love. Indian content creators, or more specifically, OTT content creators have done it again — converted a legitimate problematic and burning societal issue into a sleazy TV trope. If it was the ‘Saas Bahu’ trope in the early 2000s, then same sex love has become the go-to TV trope this decade. Of course, given the strict regulations that govern conventional Indian television, the development is rampant in the web space, as of now.
When the first Indian shows that touched upon this sensitive subject hit the web space, they gladdened the hearts of the LGBTQ community. Romil And Jugal on ALTBalaji was one such show. Starring Rajiv Siddhartha and Manraj Singh in the leading roles, the series depicted the gay relationship between an unlikely pair – one a shy Tam-Brahm guy, and the other a loud Punjabi munda. Yet, it was a sensitively made show, and yes, it got it right.
All About Section 377, another show that streamed on YouTube, shone a spotlight on gay love. Though well intended, it was weighed down by trite sequences and stereotypical scenarios. Yet, it was a commendable start.
Vikram Bhatt’s shows Maaya 2 and Twisted ‘tried’ to get it right. Both had lesbian relationships at the heart of the narrative. But both failed. Their steamy kisses and superficial sensitivity failed to strike a chord with audiences.
And then came shows like Gandii Baat – where sensitivity went out of the window, and sordid sex took centrestage. Thankfully, before the LGBT community had pulled out all its hair in frustration at the callousness of it all, along came Made In Heaven – a very well-made show that hit the sweet spot in the depiction of same sex love.
Circa year 2020. Things have come to such a pass that it has become mandatory to include a gay or lesbian pair in every show. Almost every ‘woke’ Indian series has one perfunctory gay/lesbian couple. And most of the time, it is written with abysmal apathy for the very real issues faced by same sex couples. Not only that, every OTT platform is guilty of the crime. Web content seems to have stumbled upon a new toy to play around with. Nearly every pretentiously ‘woke’ series takes pride in showing same sex love in its repertoire. Dark 7 White, Four More Shots Please, Bandish Bandits, RejctX, even the recently released Tamil anthology film Paava Kadhaigal has one story on same sex love.
Bollywood too has woken up to the possibilities of appearing ‘with it’ by centring stories around LGBT love. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga, Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan and Margarita with a Straw are the recent ones in memory.
Whether they are done right or not, relatable or not relatable, necessary or used just to grab eyeballs, is for the audience to decide. Yet, it is increasingly becoming obvious that the intensely sensitive issue of same sex love has been turned into a trope by certain sections of the entertainment industry – the new Saas-Bahu of contentdom. We can only hope that good sense prevails, and our filmmakers read the print written in bold all over the subject – “Handle With Care”.
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