Anshuman Jha: Bollywood tends to stereotype LGBTQ community

Anshuman Jha and Zareen Khan in the film

"In a divisive world like ours, this story appeals to your humanity," starts off Anshuman Jha about his film Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele that dropped on Disney + Hotstar over the weekend. The story traces the journey of a gay man (Jha) and a lesbian woman (Zareen Khan). "It was an unconventional telling of love. The story was compassionate. But the main draw was characters from LGBTQ community. Bollywood has for so long treated queer characters in a caricaturish fashion. The only films in recent times that did well was Kapoor & Sons. It was attractive that at a script level it was a human story about two people from the community. The characters bond on a cosmic level," he tells us.

But the problem has been often brought to light is lack of representation from the LGBTQ community in the films that tell their stories. Jha says that he and his director Harish Vyas took the onus of this. "Being responsible is always a challenge which is why we bounced it off many people from the community. We didn't want to say anything wrong and we weren't ever shy of asking for opinions to better it. I sought help from Vinod Rawat (Hrithik Roshan's acting guru from Super 30) and workshopped with him for a while. Mandira Shukla (costume designer) and I gave the character a distinct look for the character. Once the film was ready, we took the film to the South Asian International Film Festival (New York) because NYC is the LGBTQ capital of the world. People really liked it. Back home, the film was at Kashish Film Festival, where we got the thumbs up. At NYC, we got the perspective for the India cut. Subjectively, people can not like the film but at least we have been responsible for the depiction."

That said, Jha says the film is universal. "We need to shift perceptions. Harish Sir had a friend in college who many years later told him that he liked men. In 2002-03, the idea of homosexuality was not as normalised. But that's where the story finds its heart from. It is deeply personal to us."

Also View: Hum Bhi Akele, Tum Bhi Akele trailer: Anshuman, Zareen will leave you impressed