Pride Month: Why you need to attend KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Festival and Satrangi Mela

A queer film fest and mela showcasing LGBTQiA+ run businesses make up the first Sunday of Pride Month

Watch LGBTQiA+ themed films on the big screen with 1,200 people. That’s the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Festival for you. Considered South Asia’s biggest queer film festival, KASHISH is currently on its 14th edition with 127 films from 45 countries, which can all be viewed online, while 110 films from 41 countries will be screened offline as well. “KASHISH debuted in 2010 after the reading down of Section 377 by the Delhi High Court. We started with Patrik, Age 1.5; a Swedish feature film, with one screen at PVR Cinema, Juhu that had 125 seats. Crowds were queuing up for shows,” says festival director Sridhar Rangayan.

Sridhar Rangayan

Over the years, KASHISH has been instrumental in advocating equal rights, sensitising society to LGBTQiA+ issues and nurturing queer filmmakers in India. Rangayan observes that films have moved from rom-com and entertainment to reflect a more nuanced world view. “We are seeing an increase in Indian LGBTQ+ centric submissions from 22 films in the first year to 90 this year,” says Rangayan. “Their quality has also improved drastically,” he shares. “The narratives have shifted from angst-ridden, who-am-I, what-am-I kind of films to dealing with realities of LGBTQ+ persons’ lives in everyday situations.
It has also shifted from urban centric topics to rural and semi-urban environments.” 

The theme for the year is “Be Fluid, Be You!” “It’s giving wings to aspirations of the contemporary generation that is fluid in thoughts, actions and sexualities,” says Rangayan, “This is expressed through films, art and poetry and is universal in appeal.” Some not-to-miss movies this year include Ektara Collective’s Ek Jagah Apni and Tsuyoshi Shoji’s Old Narcissus.

WHAT: KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival
WHERE: Liberty Cinema and  Alliance Française de Bombay
WHEN: June 7 to 11
PRICE: Rs 999 onwards
TO BOOK: insider.in 

Rang de 

Social's Satrangi Mela is back with a much bigger celebration this Pride month. “We started as an online edition in June 2020 and soon realised that the community needs spaces to create awareness and interact with each other through art and culture,” says Pearl Daruwalla, Manager of Diversity and  Inclusion at Impresario Handmade Restaurants. Their first offline session was in November 2021, and since then, they have had more than 15 editions across the country.

Besides a flea market place, Satrangi Mela also has performances such as drag showcases, open mic, theatre productions, and a DJ and live music during the party

Satrangi Mela is an all-day marketplace for queer businesses and artistes. As the day progresses, expect open mics, flashmob, drag shows and theatre productions, which ultimately lead to a party. “We don’t believe that Satrangi Mela or awareness has to happen only during Pride month,” says Daruwalla. “That is why we do it all around the year, not just for the community but also for allies.” Besides a flea market, showcases and performances, this edition will also have face and body painting, tarot card reading, tattoo artistes—all of which will eventually melt into a disco-themed ball.

Pearl Daruwalla

WHAT: Satrangi Mela (Pride Edition)
WHERE: antiSOCIAL, Lower Parel
WHEN: June 11, 2 PM onwards
PRICE: till 5 PM
TO BOOK: insider.in

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