#lesbian movies
south asian lesbian cinema:
I. minor lesbian content/subtext
- Umbartha (1982), dir. Jabbar Patel
- Mandi (1983), dir. Shyam Benegal
- Razia Sultan (1983), Kamal Amrohi
- Ustav (1984), dir. Girish Karnad
- Khalnayak (1993), dir. Subhash Ghai
- Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996), dir. Mira Nair
II. lesbian characters/relationships
- Fresh Kill (1994), dir. Shu Lea Cheang
- Fire (1996), dir. Deepa Mehta
- Chutney Popcorn (1999), dir. Nisha Ganatra
- Nil Nirjane (2003), dir. Subrata Sen
- Sancharram (2004), dir. Ligy J. Pullappally
- Nina’s Heavenly Delights (2006), dir. Pratibha Parmar
- The World Unseen (2007), dir. Shamim Sarif
- I Can’t Think Straight (2008), dir. Shamim Sarif
- Soongava: Dance of the Orchids (2011), dir. Subarna Thapa
- Qissa (2013), dir. Anup Singh
- Mitraa (2014), dir. Ravi Jadhav
- Dedh Ishqiya (2014), dir. Abhishek Chaubey
- Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), dir. Pan Nalin
- Margarita with a Straw (2015), dir. Shonali Bose
- Family Album (2015), dir. Mainak Bhaumik
- Satyavati (2016), dir. Deepthi Tadanki
- Signature Move (2017), dir. Jennifer Reeder
- Kattumaram (2018), dir. Swarnavel Eswaran
- Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019), dir. Shelly Chopra Dhar
- Season of Love (2019), dir. Christin Baker
- Lihaaf (2019), dir. Rahat Kazmi
- Hum Bhi Akele, Tum Bhi Akele (2020), dir. Harish Vyas
- Geeli Pucchi (2021), dir. Neeraj Ghaywan
III. lesbian documentaries
- Exposure (1990), dir. Michelle Mohabeer
- Flesh and Paper (1990), dir. Pratibha Parmar
- Khush (1991), dir. Pratibha Parmar
- Bolo! Bolo! (1991), dirs. Ian Rashid and Kaspar Saxena
- Two/Doh (1996), dir. Michelle Mohabeer
- Rewriting the the Script: A Love Letter to Our Families(2001)
- For Straights Only (2001), dir. Vismita Gupta-Smith
- Many People, Many Desires(2004), dir. T. Jayashree
- Brown Like Me(2009)
- DESIGIRLS!(2010) dir. Ishita Srivastava
- Our Story: Women Who Love Women (2010), dir. Anoma Rajakaruna
- I Am (2011), dir. Sonali Gulati
- Project Bolo: Indian Lgbt Movement (2011), dir. Sridhar Rangayan
- …and the Unclaimed (2013), dir. Debalina Majumder
- And You Thought You Knew Me (2013), dir. Pramada Menon
- Purple Skies (2014), dir. Sridhar Rangayan
- Poshida: Hidden LGBT Pakistan (2015), dir. Faizan Fiaz
- Sangini (2016), dir. Nancy Nicol
- Ladies and Gentlewomen (2017), Malini Jeevarathnan
- Yeh Freedom Life (2018), dir. Priya Sen
- Take Me as I Am (2019), dir. Jeremiah Fernandes
- Stories of Lesbian Couples From Small Towns and Villages (2019), dir. Vatsala Singh
IV. lesbian short films
- Ferdous (1990), dir. Shakila Maan
- Lest I Burn (1991), dir. Shani Mootoo
- A Paddle and a Compass (1992), dirs. Shani Mootoo and Wendy Oberlander
- The Wild Woman in the Woods (1993), dir. Shani Mootoo
- Coconut/Cane & Cutlass (1994), dir. Michelle Mohabeer
- Two/Doh (1996), dir. Michelle Mohabeer
- Her Sweetness Lingers (1994), dir. Shani Mootoo
- Guerita & Prietita (1995), dirs. Kathy High and Shani Mootoo
- Sum Total (1999), dir. Sonali Gulati
- Petals (2001), dir. Suresh Natarajan
- Barefeet (2002), dir. Sonali Gulati
- Sara(2010)
- More Than A Friend (2010), dir. Debalina Majumder
- The Queen of My Dreams (2012), dir. Fawzia Mirza and Ryan Logan
- The Story of Nilu (2014), dir. Nilu Sherpa
- Story Teller: Anuja (2015), dir. Avani Batra
- Tremors (2016), dir. Shivangi Mittal
- If You Dare Desire (2017), dir. Debalina Majumder
- Rainbow In A Brown World (2017), dir. Rhea Dease
- Love. No Boundaries: A Film (2017), dir. Monisha Ajgaonkar
- Anthadhi(2017)
- Devi: Goddess (2017), dir. Karishma Dev Dube
- Roohi (2018), dir. Nayan Shah
- Ishq, Dosti and All That (2018), dirs. Rituparna Borah, Srishti Lakhera, Bhamati Sivapalan, Ritambhara Mehta
- The Booth (2018), dir. Rohin Raveendran
- U for Usha (2019), dir. Rohan Kanawade
- Long Distance (2019), dir. Anoop Lokkurs
- I Know Her (2019), dir. Fawzia Mirza
- Sheer Qorma (2020), dir. Faraz Arif Ansari
- The Song We Sang (2020), dir. Aarti Neharsh
- My Mother’s Girlfriend (2021), dir. Arun Fulara
Maybe they weren’t all couples, but there was definitely some chemistry there…
Who are some of your favorites? I know I missed a lot.
i rewatched gia (1998) dir. michael cristofer
