Rainbow returns

Support for the city’s queer community has been steadily increasing,and Kashish has gone the extra mile in supporting and promoting queer films and their filmmakers,using,as Rangayan puts it,”cinema as a means to understand what being queer means today”. Aside from screening films,Kashish has also organised discussions,interactions with filmmakers and a number of other cultural activities,all with the singular aim of increasing awareness about a community that has,for far too long,been in the shadow.

Present at the opening of Kashish 2011 and lending their support were Sai Paranjype and Pooja Bhatt,who inaugurated the festival,Alyque Padamsee,Dolly Thakore,Mona Ambegaonkar,Suhasini Mulay,Kim Sharma,Mahesh Dattani,and Manavendra Singh Gohil,the country’s first openly gay royal,among others. Voicing her support,Sai Paranjpye said,“Kashish has really taken root and can today loudly and proudly proclaim that it will be an annual event that will be part of the cultural life of Mumbai.” Following the ceremony was the screening of Undertow,an internationally acclaimed Peruvian film about a married fisherman who is having an affair with another man.