Queering the world, one film at a time

Cinema has great power to influence young minds. It also has the power to keep the mind young. It opens new avenues to thinking and expands our minds to a world of ideas and possibilities. 

It is also a humbling experience. Every damn time your chest bloats with pride and you think you know it all, it knocks you down with a new experience that you did not even know existed. 

The 2018 Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival did just that. It knocked me down with the expanse of knowledge about queer identities.

I was one of the jury members for the Student Shorts. To be frank, I was expecting amateurish films that had miles to go in terms of finesse, but they turned out to be stunning — from visuals  to editing to camera work, which were sometimes even perfect. 

Between the student films from across the world and the films by established people here in India, I would not bat an eyelid if someone said that the student films were light years ahead. It is not just about the funding that they receive for making films. As someone who knows the craft, I could imagine the reams and reams of printouts to chalk out every frame. The film students in other countries receive more exposure as well.  

Maybe it is time we start mentoring our film students in that way too. It is time our government realises that cinema is a potent instrument for change. 

We shouldn’t thrive on mediocrity, we should take queerness beyond novelty and make it a norm. 

The exception to this is Sridhar’s own Evening Shadows, a film about a mother’s journey of acceptance that pushes us to think in ways that we never did before. 

Mona Ambegaonkar, mother, take a bow. Mona, I think you are one of the most underrated actors in the Hindi film industry. When it comes to cinema as a medium for activism, Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival ensured that the flame is burning all through. 

Sridhar Rangayan is a gem and a bundle of energy. His team has ensured that the best films are chosen and there is enough room for debate and discussion. I think we should hand it over to the Kashish team for making us think, for opening us to an overload of empathy. 

Right from the opening night by Rohini and Mantra to the closing by Abish Mathew, and the closing film, Evening Shadows, the festive fervour had enveloped us. With every film and performance, we got the chance to become better beings.

If I had to pick out the best thing about Kashish 2018, I would say it is the fact that students watched films for free, courtesy Godrej Industries.

Kashish keeps the mind young and the heart younger.

Faar chaan, nah?

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