Pride Month Special: 6 Indian Web-series That Are Based on LGBTQ Relationships!

June is celebrated as the LGBT pride month, which is a positive stance against violence and discrimination towards Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community faces. It helps them to promote their self-affirmation, dignity and pride and celebrate diversity. Last year in January, the Government of India finally took a big step towards the rights and equality of the LGBT community and declared Section 377 (Indian Penal Code that declared sexual activities between same sex people illegal) as unconstitutional. Though the LGBT community still does not enjoy the same status as others, people are taking small steps to normalize it. The entertainment industry should be given credit for creating a wider impact and awareness amongst people regarding the LGBT community and their struggles to live a normal life in the judgemental society.

Check of some of the best Indian web series based on LGBT relationships and their struggles and here’s where you can watch it:

Romil and Jugal: ALT Balaji

Helmed by Ekta Kapoor, ALT Balaji is one streaming site that has created and produced shows with different and unexplored concepts. Featuring actors Rajeev Siddhartha and Manraj Singh, ALT Balaji produced a wonderful show named Romil and Jugal, which was based on gay relationship. The story revolves around a shy young Tamil boy Romil (Rajeev) and a loud and Punjabi guy (Manraj), who happen to fall in love with each other and how after struggling from the society’s mindset, they both emerge out as a strong couple.

Made In Heaven: Amazon Prime Videos

Amazon Prime Original Made In Heaven featuring Arjun Mathur, Sobhita Dhulipalia, Jim Sarbh and Kalki Koechlin in lead roles garnered a lot of appreciation from both critics and viewers for attempting to target a lot of issues in one series. In the series, Arjun Mathur and Sobhita Dhulipalia play wedding planners and the story traces their journey of struggling with planning the best weddings possible. Arjun Mathur who plays Karan Mehra in the series is shown to be gay and he is sent to jail by his landlord for involving in sexual activities with men at his house. His character even gets molested by a Police officer in the jail.

Maaya 2: Youtube

Produced by Vikram Bhatt, the web series Maaya season 1 dealt with the bold subject of BDSM and the season 2 talked about lesbian relationship. It’s a beautiful story of two girls Ruhi (Leena Jumani) and Simmi (Priyal Gor) with contrasting attributes. While Ruhi is the dominative one in the relationship, Simmi is the coy and shy girl who realizes it only after meeting Ruhi that she is a lesbian.

377 Ab Normal: Zee5

Featuring Zeeshan Ayyub, Tanvi Azmi, Kumud Mishra, Shashank Arora and Maanvi Gagroo in lead roles, Zee5’s original film 377 Ab Normal shows the struggles that went behind changing the law and the aftermath of whatever happened. The series is inspired by real life stories of people who fought for the cause and how their efforts led to the decriminalization of the law.

UNTAG: Voot

Voot’s series UNTAG spoke about the various tags like fat, ugly, dark, short, psycho and gay that society gives us. UNTAG delves into the lives of regular people with seemingly harmless tags, their dreams, inhibitions and most importantly their struggles. Featuring actors Meiyang Chang, Naveen Polishetty, Anjali Anand, VJ Andy, Dipanita Sharma in lead roles, the series celebrates individuality of people in the most subtle yet impactful manner. In the series Meiyang and Naveen play gay characters and how Meiyang is open about their relationship but Naveen is not ready to come out in open about his truth.

Four More Shots Please: Amazon Prime Videos

Featuring Maanvi Gagroo, Bani J, Kirti Kulhari and Sayani Gupta in lead roles, the series chronicles the journey of four unapologetically flawed women and how they empower each other. Each one has their own struggle with life. One of the characters Umang Singh (Bani J) is bisexual and struggles with finding a partner who will not betray her and her feelings. She meets an actress played by Lisa Ray, builds a connection with her but in the end she ditches her as it affects her on screen image.

Some series’ that need a special mention are:

1. The Other Love Story

2. Dev DD

3. Twisted

4. Love Life & Screw Ups

5. Still About 377 

What are your views on these web series’? Let us know in the comment section below. Also suggest some other series that we may have missed.