Interview: Queer folx should also play straight characters – and warriors, wanderers and vampires

When filmmaker and advertising professional Joydeep Sarkar points out that stories have been told by cis-het men and that needs to change urgently, his own work reflects these ideals powerfully.

From the show Rainbow Rishta to a series of convention-bending advertising campaigns, Sarkar has blazed a trail.

“I have always liked a panga here and there,” says Sarkar, in an interview. “I have walked into many patriarchal boardrooms, where the decision makers are afraid to upset the status quo of the middle-class Indian family.” It is precisely here that I enjoy shaking things up, the most, he says.

“If I am making a commercial for a malt drink, I’ll change the protagonist from a boy to a girl,” says Sarkar. “If it’s the story of a parent concerned for their child’s nutrition, I’ll change the concerned parent from a mother to a father.”

Unfortunately, he says, there isn’t enough work in today’s films and shows that explore gender. Its the bad clichés, and especially crass “cross-dressing humour” that rankles the most.

“All my friends who are non-binary or trans or intersex are some of the most fun and fierce people I know,” says Sarkar. “But we rarely see this reflected in films or shows.”

With Rainbow Rishta, Sarkar set out to do just...

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