A married man repressing his sexuality. An oppressed-caste lesbian woman making herself invisible in a society dominated by men. A trans woman earning the unconditional love of her son. A sister’s fight against the injustice dealt to her intersex sibling. An AIDS awareness activist who faces discrimination at every turn. A doomed romance between two sisters-in-law. These are the queer Brown storylines that mainstream media has traditionally kept in the margins.
But that’s slowly changing. Here’s our roundup of 20 South Asian films and television shows that don’t shy away from giving queer stories the screen time they deserve.