The Booth. Directed by Rohin Raveendran Nair. London: Mubi, 2019. 15 minutes.

My Mother’s Girlfriend. Directed by Arun Fulara. London: Mubi, 2021. 15 minutes.

Sisak. Directed and distributed by Faraz Arif Ansari, 2017. 16 minutes.

Sexuality today is still a taboo topic, not to be discussed openly in Indian society. Although things are changing in the contemporary moment, heteronormativity continues to be the standardized and dominant norm that governs sexual behavior. Sexuality, encompassing normative aspects of one’s life, can be defined as a spectrum of what one feels inside in terms of intimacy and how one acts on it. “Sexuality is usually taken to refer to the social experience and expression of physical bodily desires, real or imagined, by or for others or for oneself. It encompasses erotic desires, identities, and practices” (Abbott, Tyler, and Wallace 2005, 198). Sociologically speaking, reality is socially constructed, it is contextual and reflective, and it is the outcome of power and domination. Building upon this point, sexuality is not monolithic; there are diverse forms of sexualities, but the hegemonic discourses have constructed the idea of a “healthy” sexuality, namely heterosexuality, thus marginalizing alternative forms (Foucault 1978). In this review, I examine three short films that deconstruct the normative perspectives about sexuality. Teaching about sexuality in classrooms is a tough task when even sex education is struggling to become part of the mainstream educational curriculum, and these cinematic texts serve as a valuable pedagogical tool to initiate discussions and build theoretical frameworks to explore such a sensitive topic. They also can be used to teach the idea of resistance, where marginalized sections of society resist the hegemonic discourses while remaining within the dominant structure.

The Booth is a story of two women, a security guard in the mall and a young college going girl, that deals explicitly with lesbianism and female sexual agency. In the film, a female frisking booth turns into a queer space for women’s forbidden love and desires. Dialogue is sparse, but the characters’ body language, silences, and actions deconstruct the normative. The second film, My Mother’s Girlfriend, also deals with the idea of female sexual agency. It is the story of two middle-aged women belonging to different religions who find solace in each other’s company. In both films, the women within the patriarchal structure create their own queer space by making use of tactics, which can be defined as resistant actions on the part of an individual practiced in everyday life (de Certeau 1984). In My Mother’s Girlfriend and The Booth, the Mumbai beach and the frisking booth, respectively, are testimonies to the existence of queer moments and queer spaces of resistance, thus highlighting the way space can be experienced differently by different people. Therefore, in terms of pedagogy, both can be used to teach the idea of alternative sexualities as well as how nonconforming individuals alter and manipulate so-called heteronormative spaces and create their own queer spaces.

Further, both films deal with the idea of the heteronormative gaze, which constantly enforces compulsory heterosexuality. In The Booth, the mall serves as a space of this gaze because the characters are forced to remain within the closet (frisking booth) while in My Mother’s Girlfriend, this gaze is practiced through the eyes of the son of one of the protagonists who tries to find the “secrets” of his mother’s life. Even the title of the film, My Mother’s Girlfriend, is itself nonnormative, which instructors can use to deconstruct the normative perspectives of motherhood and female sexuality. Finally, the films can be used to teach about intersectionality because both feature women from lower-class backgrounds who belong to different religions. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s On Intersectionality (2014) is useful to prompt discussions about the ways that sexuality intersects with other markers of social difference such as caste, class, and religion.

The third film, Sisak, is India’s first silent LGBT movie.1 It portrays two young men who regularly take the same Mumbai local train. The queer moments in the film are represented through signs and symbols: body language and eye contact reflect inner turmoil and nervousness. And in the last scene of the film the protagonists are walking parallel to each other but on different sides of the railway tracks, and the train between them is a metaphor for the heteronormative gaze that forbids nonnormative sexual identities and desires. The train reflects this form of looking in the sense that it is like a wall that does not allow the two men to come together. Viewers can also observe how gender is ‘performed’ through the choice of clothing. In one scene, we see one of the protagonists crying and wearing Kolhapuri chappals (sandals that are considered a more feminine form of footwear). In contrast, the other protagonist expresses a more dominant and hegemonic form of masculinity through his attire, which includes button-down shirts and Western-style close-toed men’s shoes. These differences and their significance can be analyzed in conversation with R. W. Connell’s theories about masculinity (2005).

Again, space is important. In Sisak, the local train is a space where queer intimacy is depicted through silences, albeit a silence that is filled with layers of screams, helplessness, and of being the “other” in a heterosexual world. At the same time, the cinematic expression of silence is also a symbol of resistance to heteronormativity. Because The Booth and My Mother’s Girlfriend also explore resistance, educators can make use of the article by Jocelyn A. Hollander and Rachel L. Einwohner “Conceptualizing Resistance” (2004) as a complement to any of the three films.

It is said that when concepts and theories are visualized on screens, it widens the scope of learning and discussions (Burton 1988). Thus, educators can make use of these films to teach about the everyday experiences of sexuality in relation to caste, class, and religion. The cinematic narratives about these experiences can help students understand sexuality in a more nuanced way, which can be followed by rigorous discussions and debates. Moreover, the films avoid definitive conclusions and answers but instead raise questions and deconstruct the normative, which will eventually help in understanding that reality is socially constructed and that subjectivity is the outcome of discourses shaped by the interplay of power and domination. Overall, all three films showcase the everyday experiences and expressions of nonconforming sexualities from which educators and students can analyze and derive themes, simultaneously teaching the students the process of identifying themes and promoting an active learning process in classrooms.

1 Sisak is available to watch on YouTube as of August 5, 2024: “Sisak | India's First Silent LGBTQ Love Story | Faraz Arif Ansari”

Ramsha Aveen is a PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia. Her research interests include gender, sexuality, cinema, and sociological theories. She has done her Bachelors (First Division) and Masters in Sociology (Gold Medalist) from Jamia Millia Islamia. She also holds a degree in social work (First Division) (MSW) from the same university. She has presented papers both in national and international seminars. Her research papers have been published in journals like Women’s Link and Emerging Trends in Development Research. She is also a poet and a writer; her writings have been published in Delhi Poetry SLAM, Erothanatos, and Café Dissensus Magazine.