At the time, simply allowing the gay community to tell their own stories, in their own words, was a radical act, and Livingston gave her subjects space to discuss the pleasure and pain of queer existence with unvarnished honesty. But it’s the conversations that truly make Paris Is Burning an LGBTQ landmark. The performances are wild, expressive and still a joy to behold, even after 14 seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, which owes the film a great debt for paving the way toward the mainstreaming of drag culture. The same year Madonna lifted the concept of ‘voguing’ out of New York’s queer underground and took it to the top of the charts, film student Jennie Livingston brought a camera into that same world and allowed its stars to dance, sashay and, most crucially, speak for themselves. ? The 100 best romantic films of all-timeĬast: André Christian, Dorian Corey, Paris Duprée Written by Cath Clarke, Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston, Alim Kheraj, Guy Lodge, Ben Walters and Matthew Singer. To that end, we enlisted some LGBTQ+ cultural pioneers, as well as Time Out writers to assist in assembling a list of the greatest gay films ever made – and the results show that queer life is far from a monolith. But the strides of the last half-century or so deserve to be celebrated. Obviously, there are still many barriers left to breach, and much work to be done to achieve true equality in Hollywood. In 2022, we’ll see Billy Eichner’s Bros, the first romantic comedy penned by an openly gay man for a major studio, while the great Billy Porter will make his directorial debut with a story about a trans high school student. So, too, have the opportunities for queer stories written by and for the queer communities. Over the last few decades or so, though, the scope of LGBTQ+ experiences depicted on film has expanded greatly. Inasmuch as gay lives and issues were ever allowed to be addressed on screen without devolving into gross stereotypes, for much of the past century, the perspective was limited to that of white, cisgendered men. So, I might be stereotyped, but I’m not scared, and I can’t be either.Queer cinema has come a long way. The same holds true for any kind of first outing. On being asked if Vidur feared being typecasted by taking such a risk with his debut film itself, he said, "Earlier actors once cast as villains would get similar offers from other filmmakers, because they seemed to fit the role best. But I thought that as a filmmaker I do not want to push anyone to come out, because it is a cruel industry, and I would not want their careers to be at stake." Onir went on to say how he was glad to have been unaware of Vidur's sexuality before he came on board, "I’m in a way happy that I did not know about Vidur’s sexual orientation before casting him, even though I had been looking for a good queer actor as the lead.
On being asked if he felt uncomfortable doing a film that was absolutely uncensored, Vidur added, "I told him that I see my queerness not only in sexuality and gender, but as the future imaginary, which opens plurality of existence." It is not just some scenes, but a full-blown romance."
I told him I understood the need to show the romance between two people the way it actually happens. I told him you don’t have to worry about it, because I’m a queer person and I understand the requirements as an artist as well.
Vidur added to it by saying, "There is a lot of sanitisation that happens when it comes to showing stories about queer folks. They celebrate their desire and are not ashamed of it." Working with a queer actor brings along experiences that enrich the scene and the film.
In conversation with the Times of India, Onir opened up about his intentions of casting a queer person, he shared, "I really wanted to cast a queer actor, because the film shows tender romance between a gay couple. This also marks Vidur's debut in Bollywood and covers an interesting storyline spanning a decade-long journey and all the romantic experiences gathered along the way. He has now gone a step ahead and roped in Vidur Sethi - a Delhi-based queer individual for his next project titled Pine Cone. One such person from the industry is filmmaker Onir who has earlier gained recognition with films like I Am and My Brother Nikhil.