Filmmaker Kiran Rao expresses optimism about the increasing presence of LGBTQ narratives in mainstream cinema, though acknowledging the pace of progress as slow.
As a jury member for the narrative segment of the upcoming Kashish Pride Film Festival, she emphasises the growing representation of queer individuals in both films and web series, while also stressing the need for further advancements in this regard.
"There's a long way to go before we can stop having to speak about queer issues with this specifically separate lens... But it's slowly happening, as we can see in many shows on OTT, there's a much greater representation of queer people and a more diverse representation, which is very heartening for filmmakers like me and in general, for us as Indians, because this is something I feel we should all be sensitive to.
"We all need to sort of grow and evolve as a society to not have to box people into this other kind of segment," the director told the media on the sidelines of an event.
In some ways, cinema is a reflection of society, which needs to evolve with time, she said. "It's wonderful that so much has changed in the last two decades in our country."
