Bisexuality is no longer a topic that is swept under the carpet. Now many web series and movies like Four More Shots Please!, Angry Indian Goddess and Tully depict actors playing bisexual characters,with comparative ease. And with India decriminalising the LGBTQ community, things surely have moved forward. Being bisexual is no longer considered taboo as today millenials see it as just a different way to show the love you feel. Talking to people from the film fraternity, an activist and a psychologist we find out what brought about this change.
Having played a lesbian character in a short film, Sandalwood actress Hitha Chandrashekar feels as an actor playing a either a bisexual or lesbian character is no different from any other character.
She adds, “I think this entire movement started with the LGBTQ community being legalised and accepted in the US that led to other countries too accepting them. Being bisexual is just love in a different form. Since we are exposed to the US culture, the change came in. With web series and shows portraying bisexual characters; it gave a chance for many people to come out of the closet. Having big personalities like Ricky Martin and Ellen DeGeneres openly admitting their sexuality, inspired people. Even the film and TV medium are kind of normalising this. Its not more a taboo topic.”
Bisexuality is not something new in India points out Sandalwood director KM Chaitnaya. He feels that we just forgot about it. “If you look at our temple carvings, things like being bisexual was not a taboo. It was only after repeated foreign invasions, rigid views on what is right and wrong in sexuality were imposed on us. Hence we began to being bisexual a taboo. Now a days that attitude has changed and we have a realised that a person’s sexuality is his or her own choice. Homosexuals and bisexuals make up a significant percent of the society. We have realised that it is just different ways of showing love.”
Nithya Nanda an LGBTQ activist feels that although we have achieved so much in this area with the decriminalisation, we still have a long way to go. He says, “Even though, the community has been made legal, there is still a part of the society that attaches a stigma to being bisexual. They are still conservative with prejudiced thoughts. They are still stereotyped that a man should be with a woman and vise versa. I have seen many bisexual people who are quite open. While they are accepted by their friends circle, its the parents who don’t accept them.”
