#SACHIN KUNDALKAR

[heavenlyyshecomes]

But in the afternoon, my limbs began to feel heavy and I felt alone again. The future frightened me so much I began to cry. I did not know what was going to happen to me. I felt that everyone must be laughing at me. My head began to fuzz over. Sitting in a chair, I began to cry copiously. I wept on and on until my breath began to catch in my throat.

—Sachin Kundalkar, Cobalt Blue tr. Jerry Pinto

[inmyworldblr]

Gandha (2009) | dir. Sachin Kundalkar

[mubiss]

Cobalt Blue

[timetravellingkitty]

hi do you have any book recs by indian/indian origin authors on the queer indian experience? just not anything do w those books trying to link hinduism and queerness lol (looking at you devdutt pattnaik…)

cobalt blue by sachin kundalkar, originally written in marathi but there's an english translation by jerry pinto

the truth about me: a hijra life story by a. revathi originally written in tamil with an english translation by v. geetha (this one's an autobiography)

any of hoshang merchant's poetry work but he's most known for his anthology yaarana

i'm actually not sure if lamya h. (the author of hijab butch blues) is indian; all i've seen is that they're a south asian muslim from an urdu speaking family but i'll still rec this

the boyfriend by r. raj rao; set in the gay subculture of mumbai and discusses caste and class

tldr; anything that's Not devdutt pattanaik lol

[desi-lgbt-fest]

Hi, any recommendations for desi queer books and/or fanfiction? June is coming up and I want to fill my shelves up with as much queerness as they will hold :p

There's Ruth Vanita who has written non fiction books on Indian queerness.

There's Cobalt Blue book by Sachin Kundalkar.

There's Kari by Amruta Patil (graphic novel).

Ismat Chughtai is a famous author for having written queer stories.

I found a list on Goodreads for Indian Queer Books but I cannot ofcourse vouch for the selection. The list is called 'Queer and Indian'.

Other than that fellas and folks, any recommendations from your sides???? I know there's some amount of RRR and SOTY fanfiction.

[peachypaddys]

ten frames.

cobalt blue (2022) — dir. sachin kundalkar

[sulfurousmirrorscapes]

you seem well versed in marathi language, can you recommend me modern day books in marathi that i can enjoy? i don't mind the genre but I'm a teenager so most of the marathi literature is hard to pick up for me (although i respect it immensely) i believe literature, music and active pop culture is the best way to promote a langauge rather than giving speeches at political venues. I'd like to read more of your own work as well because i saw a post and it was amazing! it's fine if you can't recommend anything too!

p.s. i love your language blog

I don't know enough about Marathi literature to recommend you anything!

I think the closest I know is Cobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar, who also directed its film adaptation. It's about a brother and a sister who fall in love with the same man, and it was released in 2013.

You're absolutely right about pop culture being the best way to promote a language, and I wish Marathi had a more active diverse pop culture scene. Maybe in time? I'd love to help in any way I can!

Thank you so much for your kind words about Survive to Read! You can read more of my literature over at Sulfurous Dreamscapes and its associated substack Sulfur Dreams!

Thank you so much for sending me this! ❤️

[desimoviereviews]

Aiyyaa: Cute Movie, Confusing Logic

Follow me on Instagram: @thatguyanesejournalist

Let’s talk about Sachin Kundalkar’s Aiyyaa.

Meenakshi Deshpande, an outspoken and imaginative girl from a conservative family, chases after the man of her dreams while avoiding an arranged engagement/marriage put together by her family.

I can already feel this is going to be a long post. And not in a good way.

See, here’s the synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes (which is the synopsis that pops up on Google when you do a quick search of the film).

“Meenakshi is a drama queen who falls in love with Surya, a Tamil actor. Although she is engaged to another person, she still dreams of getting married to Surya.”

So naturally, I thought this movie was a fleshed-out story about Meenakshi, who is a fangirl, chasing after an actor named Surya and they both fall in love while her parents are setting up her arranged marriage (the music videos did not help in aiding this delusion)

But I wasn’t even close. In fact, that would’ve been a bit more interesting than what the film actually delivers: cuteness, but confusion if you think too hard about the logistics.

Surya is a painter who is given a few lines at best. Also (maybe it’s because we see everything from Meenakshi’s point of view) it doesn’t seem like he’s that interested in her the entire movie until the ending. You see little hints, like him dropping his handkerchief so she could wipe her tears. But, nothing else. I think the director was trying to mimic an actual crush, but it came through for me as Meenakshi daydreaming about a man who isn’t interested (I get you, girl).

Let’s talk about the other elephant in the room: Meenakshi STALKING this man. I understand the obsession, the fake scenarios in your head, and even talking to people who know him because you’re trying to get close to the guy. But not only did she follow him to his house, she:

Interacted with his mother and lied about her actual identity

Stole a shirt from him to smell his scent without him knowing (although you later find out he did know)

Oh, and let’s not forget the detail that she followed him all the way from his house to the incense factory at the end of the movie because she was “curious about him”. I get this movie is supposed to be feminist-forward (she takes charge of her own love life instead of succumbing to an arranged marriage), but I was too distracted by her actions to acknowledge the "women taking agency over themselves" message.

Stalking someone you “like” is definitely creepy no matter what gender you are.

Aside from that, the dialogue was a bit lackluster. One of the only bright sides is Meenakshi's rant (found here). However, the rest was cringy, especially the "Main daru nahi peeta, nahi peeta, nahi peeta" and the "Main bhi nahi peeti, nahi peeti, nahi peeti" lines (I had to pause after I heard that and force myself to keep going).

The soundtrack, composed by Amit Trivedi, lives up to the plot's wackiness and was possibly one of two things that saved the film (Rani was second). But from the man that released “Navrai Majhi” (English Vinglish) and “Jhallah Wallah” (Ishaqzaade) the same year, this movie’s soundtrack underwhelms a bit for me. This was more because I only remember two songs out of the whole set and not because he made mediocre music. The songs are:

Dreamum Wakeuppam (to my South Indians, I'm sorry but it's catchy as hell)

Sava Dollar (Lavani)

The movie is 152 minutes long (2 hours and 32 minutes). If you want to watch a movie that you don’t have to think too hard about, this is it. Stream Aiyyaa on Netflix, grab a snack, and enjoy!

Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

[rmahapatradas]

cobalt blue

once you asked me to soap your back. i took off my t-shirt and rolled my trousers up to the knees. i washed your back and then came out, rolled my trousers down again and put on my t-shirt. then i sat down at the table and began reading.

i realized that i had gradually stopped going to the station road, stopped visiting chat rooms. and this despite the fact that we didn't hold hands for days. as i sat there reading, i glanced back to see you standing at the mirror, drying your hair. it occurred to me then that the change had happened to itself, on its own. you were there all the time. you were mine alone. or so i thought.

in my head i united our names, inscribed them on a brass plate and attached them to a mahogany door that you had carved. our door was the most beautiful in the entire building. everyone would know what a creative person --- with a bright, cool, clear mind --- lived behind the mahogany door. when we discovered that we wanted the same colours on the wall, we high-fived each other. but it couldn't have been any other way. i hadn't given much thought to colour before you came into our lives. you wanted a wood floor; the last room would be your studio. our doors would always be open to our friends: some theatre people, some artists.

when aai and baba dropped in on us, a surprise visit, they always wondered why we took so much time to open the doors. that was because we had seen them through the peephole and we'd rushed about, taking down the nudes you'd just finished from the walls. and as soon as we opened the door, one of them would say, 'why does it always take you hours to open the door? why lock the door anyway? who's coming to steal your stuff?'

on her way to put down all her dabbas in the kitchen, aai would add, 'now that you're doing all this, the least you could do is learn the wipe the counters properly, no?' then she would wipe them herself.

- cobalt blue by sachin kundalkar, translated from marathi by jerry pinto

[moviemasters]

Upcoming Marathi Movies

Marathi cinema continues to thrive with a promising lineup of upcoming movies set to captivate audiences. One of the highly anticipated films is Chandramukhi, directed by Yash and featuring Sai Tamhankar in a leading role. The film promises to blend elements of mystery, romance, and drama in a unique cinematic experience that is sure to leave a lasting impact on viewers.

Another noteworthy movie on the horizon is Pondicherry, helmed by director Sachin Kundalkar and starring Amey Wagh and Vaidehi Parshurami. This romantic drama explores themes of love, loss, and self-discovery against the backdrop of picturesque Pondicherry. With its engaging storyline and stellar performances, Pondicherry is poised to be a standout addition to the Marathi film industry's repertoire.

As we eagerly await the release of these upcoming Marathi movies, it is evident that the industry is experiencing an exciting phase marked by innovation and creativity. Audiences can look forward to a diverse range of cinematic offerings that promise to entertain, inspire, and provoke thought in equal measure.

[heavenlyyshecomes]

The house is quiet. I’m alone at home. For a while, I basked in bed in the shifting arabesques of light diffusing through the leaves of the tagar. Then I got up slowly, and went down to the backyard, and sprawled on the low wall for a single moment. The silence made me feel like a stranger in my own home. I walked around the house quietly, as a stranger might. The chirping of sparrows filled the kitchen. The other rooms were quiet, empty, forsaken.

—Sachin Kundalkar, Cobalt Blue tr. Jerry Pinto

[famousinuniverse]

Aiyyaa

2012 ‧ Romance/Comedy ‧ 2h 32m

Aiyyaa (transl. Oh my!) is a 2012 IndianHindi-language parody film starring Rani Mukerji and Prithviraj Sukumaran in the lead roles. It was written and directed by Sachin Kundalkar and jointly produced by Anurag Kashyap and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. The trailer was released on 6 September 2012. The movie was released on 12 October 2012 worldwide.

Starring

Rani Mukerji Prithviraj Sukumaran Subodh Bhave Nirmiti Sawant

Aiyyaa - Wikipedia

Aga Bai

Song by Monali Thakur and Shalmali Kholgade

Rani in Aga Bai from Aiyyaa (Hindi, 2012)

[moonofiron]

Bookworm ask game: 8, 17, 25.

8: Favourite queer fiction book:

I recently read Still Life by Sarah Winman and I really loved it. I don't have any favourites as such. Sachin Kundalkar's Cobalt Blue does come to mind, though.

17. Favourite finished book series:

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

25. Favourite middle grade book:

My Sister Jodie by Jaqueline Wilson

Bookworm asks

[indiejones]

THE BOLLYWOOD INDIES, 2022 (ANNUAL FILM AWARDS) !

Welcome one & all, to this, the 8th continuous year of the most prestigious & popular (contemporary) online annual Bollywood Film Awards, of the entire awards season, this whole decade-

The Indies.

NOTE: This year's scrolls, unlike past couple of years, do not include the web series segment, which saw it's boom period during the international pandemic induced lockdown for precisely those 2 years, a consequent dip in big quality film productions & produce, that in turn enabled lotsa screen talent to temporarily shift to the web space with much more confined production settings, causing lot more high quality & novel produce here...a level that's under normal circumstances since, somehow seen a drastic dip in collective work, thus causing Indies to take a call in favor of avoiding that segment entirely hereon, or atleast this year. That's not to say a few good productions may not've seen light of day, yet not enough to warrant a entire dedicated Indies awards show for the same.

As also no turnout worth any reckoning on the music front, putting paid to that space too for today.

A year marked most uniquely by the nationwide boycott of Bollywood films at the box office, done for a variety of factors we can't precisely put a finger on, yet that had an extraordinary (read crippling) effect on overall Bollywood earnings for the year, yet since we're not in business of awarding business, rather awarding art, let's get back to our sole area of focus.

This year seeing a very strong showing from a few dubbed South Indian works, & few made in multiple languages incl of South, that not only escaped the boycott wrath, but also found favor on the art front here.

Around the same 30-odd films making it to the elite Indie watchlist here, as for most years, & a similar large pool of winners for all categories in keeping with the now worldly known 'no ceiling on quality' Indies philosophy, except the actresses section seeing only one winner after long!

So enjoy the year's best works in all different aspects, & merrily live the month & year away !

Here is your cream of creams!

. . .

I) BEST PICTURE –

1.(2) ROCKETRY : THE NAMBI EFFECT

&

KARTHIKEYA 2

....JOINT WINNERS !

2.Tara vs Bilal & Dobaaraa & Kantara & Matto Ki Saikil

3. Lal Singh Chaddha & Mister Mummy & Mili

4.Cobalt Blue

5.Sita Ramam & Attack & Dhokha: Round D Corner & Thai Massage

6. Ardh & Radhey Shyam

7. Life is Good

8. Dasvi

9. RRR & Jalsa & Major & Blurr

10. Atithi Bhooto Bhava & Gehraiyaan & Jersey & Double XL & Toolsidas Junior & Cuttputlli & Anek & Tadka

II) BEST DIRECTOR-

1.(8)

MADHAVAN – Rocketry: The Nambi Effect

&

M. GANI – Matto Ki Saikil

&

ANURAG KASHYAP – Dobaaraa

&

SAMAR IQBAL – Tara vs Bilal

&

CHANDOO MONDETI – Karthikeya 2

&

SHAKUN BATRA – Gehraiyaan

&

SACHIN KUNDALKAR – Cobalt Blue

&

GOWTAM TINNANURI – Jersey

....JOINT WINNERS !

2. Mangesh Hadawale – Thai Massage

&

Shaad Ali - Mister Mummy

III) BEST SCREENPLAY -

1.(3) ROCKETRY: THE NAMBI EFFECT

&

KARTHIKEYA 2

&

DOBAARAA

...JOINT WINNERS !

IV) BEST ENSEMBLE –

1.(3) ROCKETRY: THE NAMBI EFFECT

&

TARA VS BILAL

&

MATTO KI SAIKIL

...JOINT WINNERS !

V) BEST ACTOR -

1.(15)

HARSHAVARDHAN RANE – Tara vs Bilal

&

MADHAVAN – Rocketry: The Nambi Effect

&

RISHABH SHETTY – Kanthara

&

DULQUER SALMAAN – Sita Ramam

&

PRAKASH JHA – Matto Ki Saikil

&

AAMIR KHAN – Lal Singh Chaddha

&

RISHI KAPOOR – Sharmaji Namkeen

&

SANJAY DUTT – Toolsidas Junior

&

ANUPAM KHER – The Kashmir Files

&

PANKAJ TRIPATHI – Sherdil: The Pilibhit saga

&

RAJPAL YADAV – Ardh

&

SHAHID KAPOOR – Jersey

&

NEELAY MEHENDALE – Cobalt Blue

&

JACKIE SHROFF – Life is Good

&

RAHEEM MIR – Tara vs Bilal

....JOINT WINNERS !

2. Nikhil Siddhartha – Karthikeya 2 & Gajraj Rao – Thai Massage & Ajay Devgan – Runway 34 & Abhishek Bachchan – Dasvi & Adivi Sesh – Major & Varun Buddhadev – Toolsidas Junior & Naseeruddin Shah – Gehraiyaan & Riteish Deshmukh – Mister Mummy & Pankaj Kapur – Jersey & Akshay Kumar - Cuttputtli

3. Shreyas Talpade – Kaun Pravin Tambe? & Ronit Kamra – Jersey & John Abraham – Attack & Vikrant Massey – Forensic & Deepak Dobriyal – Good Luck Jerry

4. Ankush Gedam – Jhund & Aparshakti Khurana – Dhokha: Round D Corner

5. Prabhas – Radhey Shyam & Nana Patekar – Tadka & Amitabh Bachchan – Brahmastra & Pavail Gulati - Dobaaraa & Rahul Gupta – Matto Ki Saikil & Sunny Hinduja – Thai Massage

VI) BEST ACTRESS –

1. SONIA RATHEE – TARA VS BILAL

....SOLE WINNER !

2. Alina Zasobina – Thai Massage & Khushalii Kumar – Dhokha : Round D Corner & Vidya Balan – Jalsa & Shefali Shah- Jalsa & Pooja Hedge – Radhey Shyam & Genelia Deshmukh – Mister Mummy & Nimrat Kaur – Dasvi & Rubina Dilaik – Ardh

3. Andrea Kevichusa – Anek & Kareena Kapoor – Lal Singh Chaddha

4. Shriya Saran - Tadka & Huma Qureshi – Double XL & Divinaa Thackur – Atithi Bhooto Bhava & Alia Bhatt – Gangubai Kathiawadi

5. Deepika Padukone – Gehraiyaan & Malti Chahar – Ishq Pashmina & Aarohi Sharma – Matto Ki Saikil .

Pleasant memories of 2022 for everyone...& A Happy New Year 2023 to you!

[acekive]

- cobalt blue, sachin kundalkar

[blorbingqls]

I would like to add two movies that i loved for the Indian Queer Media context (i am a tamilian queer brought up in UP, India) :-

Cobalt Blue (its based on a book by Sachin Kundalkar) - available on netflix (not sure if its there for international audience)

Geeli Puchi (its a great exploration on caste and queer identity in India - part of an anthology called Ajeeb Daastaans) - also netflix

I don't think i have links for the same or else would have added - you can search on google and find it! (you may also need VPN tho)

The Absence of India in Discussions on Queer Asian Media

So, yesterday @lurkingshan tagged me in an ask she got from @impala124 about the absence of India when we're talking about queer Asian media. I was intially just going to reblog it with my thought, but as it kept growing I figured it'd be best to just make my own post. Please read the ask linked above first so this makes sense.

*cracks knuckles* this is going to be the most fun I've had writing a post in ages. (For a little background, I'm a queer Indian, born and raised)

So, this is a very interesting question on a subject I've been rotating in my head for the past several months. There's a lot of different variables that contribute to the noticeable lack of discussion on Indian and South Asian queer media in general, so I'm just going to talk through the ones I've noticed a little randomly.

Talking about Asian media in general, it's well known that the mass popularity of kpop and anime has contributed massively to the increase in popularity of Asian media. If you've been in the Asian media fandom for any amount of time at all, you'll have noticed that media from Korea, Japan, and China gets by far the most attention from international audiences; all East Asian countries. There may be several reasons for this, but in particular, it's no secret that the fetishization of East Asians is a massive proponent in the popularity of media from these countries, while there's no such interest in South Asians. If we shift our focus to queer media specifically, media from these three countries is still extremely popular, with the addition of Thailand and the Philippines to some extent; both South East Asian countries. From what I've seen, there's very little international interest in media from South Asian countries (although, if we're talking about India specifically, I can't exactly say anything. Bollywood has not been good lately). If we talk about queer South Asian media, the scope of interest falls even further. If you'll notice, MyDramaList, one of the most commonly used websites for finding and tracking Asian shows only allows for East and South-East Asian shows. So, that's one reason—there's just not much international interest in Indian media in general. As Shan said in the initial post, it's partially because of a difference in priorities. Korea is notorious for using media to gain global standing, the role of the 'soft power' of Thai bls in the recent bills for equal marriage in Thailand has been widely discussed, the list goes on. Could racism also play a part in the massive gulf of interest in media from East Asian versus South Asian countries? Probably. But I'm not going to get into that too much.

Moving on, there's obviously a massive lack of queer media in India. I think this is greatly exacerbated by the fact that it's very hard to support the people making queer media beyond buying and/or streaming their work. The majority of people engaging with Indian queer media are queer Indians, and a lot of us have to do so in secret because of the society we live in. This means that creators that have to push through several obstacles to publish their work often receive little incentive to continue doing so because of the lack of engagement. Because of the lack of media, international fans are less likely to become interested in queer Indian media, and the cycle continues.

I will say though, contrary to what Shan said, I think Indian media, particularly anything that came out post 2019 might actually be on the easier end of the spectrum when it comes to access. This may simply be bias, so forgive me if I'm wrong here, but from what I've seen, a lot of queer Indian shows are in fact available on streaming sites, and at most you'd need a vpn to access them. I think the two main things that actually hold back queer Indian media from becoming more popular are a lack of noise and it's relatively lower quality.

The main way we find out about new shows in this space is through either word of mouth (well actually, post) or because we follow production houses known for producing media. Because of the sparse nature of both the media and the consumers, there's very few people who learn enough about the media to want to give it a shot. For example, there's a film on netflix called Badhaai Do (hindi for Congratulate Us) that I've been meaning to watch for a while. It centers around a lavender marriage and I've heard a lot of good things about it, so I was slightly surprised to see that most of the people on tumblr I interact with who have been engaging with queer media for far longer than me had never heard of it. There's also a, Indian BL from 2017 called Romil and Jugal that I've written about before here, and I would've never learned of it's existence if not for a friend hearing about it from another friend of hers.

Because there's so little queer indian media, it's natural that the quality leaves much to be desired. The main issue is, because the queer asian media market has become so saturated lately people are becoming a lot more selective with what they watch, and for good reason. This means that queer media from india is simply unable to grow and improve over time, leaving it stagnant. Back in 2016-2018, the overall dearth of queer media from Asia meant that a lot of people were willing to watch shows that were average or even worse. Thailand particularly seems to have benefitted from this, being able to grow and evolve its queer media due to the successes of shows like SOTUS, 2gehter, TharnType and more even recently, KinnPorsche. Queer Indian media will have a much, much harder time with this because of all of the factors I've talked about and more, meaning that it is much harder for queer media to evolve. Honestly, though I haven't been able to watch/read much queer media from India, the stuff I have seen is really quite decent, it's just that it tends to fail in comparison to some of the brilliant stuff we're seeing from other countries. A while a ago, I bought four queer books by Indian authors, and of the three I've read so far, I'd genuinely recommend two, albeit one with quite a few reservations (I'll be writing about them sometime in the future, just haven't found the time yet). While talking about this with @neuroticbookworm, she brought up the excellent point of how Indian media in general has just been of fairly poor quality lately. It seems to me that a lot of it is catered to more conservative audiences, which results in people like me becoming disillusioned with Indian media and simply moving onto things from other countries. It has been a long time since I've watched anything worthwhile come out of Bollywood. So, it becomes even harder for queer Indian shows to be found at all; a majority of their target audience has already forsaken Indian media as a lost cause.

So, those are a bunch of reasons because of which there's not a lot of discussion about queer Indian media in fandom spaces like Tumblr. Something else I'd like to point out is, it's very hard for queer shows in India to gain much traction whatsoever. Live television slots are ruled by the infamous Indian serials, the majority of the audience being people in their late thirties and older, particularly women. And while homophobia is just as prevalent amongst the youth of India as it is amongst older generations, younger people are far more likely to be engaging with queer media, in India at least. This means that it would be near impossible for queer shows to air on live television the way they do in countries like Thailand and Japan. The majority of Indian youth use global streaming services to watch shows, hence the greater concentration of queer shows on service platforms. (Romil and Jugal is something of a dark horse here—I don't believe it was ever aired, but it was produced by a producer who has a few decently popular serials under her belt and is available on an Indian steaming service—another reason I'm determined to research how tf this show ever came into existence) If we talk of movies, the industry is limited by the iron fist of Bollywood, another reason it's very hard for queer movies to be produced and why they're generally found on streaming sites.

There's just not a lot of people who have the balls it would take to make a queer Indian show/movie and push it to the Indian public beyond a streaming service. I mean, we're all seeing what's happening with the Love in The Big City drama right now, and believe me, public backlash in India would be the same, if not much worse. And if no one in India is watching these shows, why would anyone in any other part of the world? There's barely any public figures that would be willing to participate in such a project, so queer media stays underground. Currently, Karan Johar is the most popular—and one of the only—out celebrities in Bollywood, and, well, he's treated as something of a laughing stock by the public. He has one or two queer adjacent shows under his belt as a producer, but once again, they're barely known and available only on Netflix. There was a movie called Dostana in which he played a straight guy pretending to be gay but, well, that speaks for itself. And well, I can't exactly blame him for it, knowing how the Indian entertainment industry is.

To talk a little more about the specific comparison between India and Korea, I think you're fairly accurate in saying that the two countries seem to be roughly on par in terms of homophobia, although that's an extremely vague statement that's rather hard to either prove or disprove. While the difference in international attention towards Korean and Indian media is certainly a major component of the difference in discussion about the queer media from these countries, there's obviously other things that go into it as well. There's this video I watched some time ago on the progression of queer representation in K-dramas that's quite well researched. It's an hour and a half long, so in case you don't have the time to watch it (though I do recommend it), it basically talks about some of the dramas with queer rep that have aired on Korean television and their impact. While it's hard to gauge the level of impact of these shows on the availability of bls and gls in Korea, they certainly had an effect, if only telling the queer population of Korea that they are seen and heard. To my knowledge (although I may be mistaken), no such queer rep has ever aired on Indian television, meaning that there's nothing to push creators to put queer media out there. There have been old movies and shows that depict queerness, but none of them ever reached the sort of the scale where they may have some sort of impact on the industry. As I mentioned earlier, the widespread popularity of K-dramas (and k-pop) does make it easier for creators to make queer media since there's a much higher chance of the shows being successful thanks to the international audience. Bringing back Love In The Big City, the success of the book abroad and the high probability of the show being well received internationally is probably one of the reasons it was able to be produced amongst domestic backlash.

Now, I've been talking a lot about how it's difficult for queer Indian media to gain any sort of international recognition with domestic attention. However, it's not necessarily the case. Here's where I start rambling (I say, as if this post isn't verging on 2k words). It's been proven that the presence of the international market allows for greater creative freedom in spaces beyond television. The best example comes from Korea's very own 'soft power'; K-pop. There's a K-pop group called Dreamcatcher that debuted in 2017 with a rock sound and horror concept that was extremely rare in kpop at the time. They succeeded mainly by focusing most of their promotions to the foreign market, knowing that their concept would not be well liked in Korea. And they succeeded. Today, Dreamcatcher has a sizeable fandom and has even been growing in popularity in Korea, with the Korean public warming up to their genre and having influenced other girl groups to try out similar sounds. We've already talked about the lack of international attention for Indian media, but there's also the issue that the producers of queer Indian media aren't marketing to foreign audiences, which remain ignorant.

That's all I have, this is so long good lord. All in all, there's a bunch of factors that feed into each other creating a cycle which means that, unless there's a break somewhere, queer Indian media will remain unrecognized. I'm excited to see what other people have to say, because this is a topic close to my heart and I'd definitely enjoy seeing more discussions around it.