Beyond the Closet: A Critical Exploration of Queer Spaces and Identities in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhaan

Abstract

This research critically examines the portrayal of queer spaces and identities in the movie Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020). Movies that depict reality are of supreme significance, with characters belonging to the community, living everyday life, and facing regular societal conflicts. It is evident that Cinema reaches an extensive section of society and challenges the taming of the community and even the movies; all the members of the LGBT( lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community only get cast as trivial characters, it reinforces the open disgust in the world. It is to understand that the LGBT community does not need sympathy but acceptance, understanding, and self-esteem like standard genders. In this way, condemning a person for being other than usual is entirely unjustified, and so is society's power to implement pointless control over an individual's sexuality. The research tries to take the Queer movement forward through the medium of the selected movie. The present study will try to bring to the forefront the different myths associated with the LGBT community in Bollywood and investigate how the LGBT community, its queer desires and aspirations are made visible through queer Cinema. This research paper further develops a deeper understanding of queer identity and culture in Indian Cinema.