Rainbow Rishta director Jaydeep says 'LGBTQ+ representation has been stereotyped in Bollywood'

Rainbow Rishta, which premiered on the OTT platform earlier this month, is receiving good reviews from the critics. The series which was based on the lives of six individuals who belong to the LGBTQ+ community offers an insight into the queer love and challenges faced by the community. Recently, the director Jaydeep Sarkar in an interview revealed why he made the series around the subject. He also added that the LGBTQ+ community has been "stereotyped in Bollywood".

The representation of the LGBTQ+ community has perpetuated stereotypes: Jaideep Sarkar

Speaking to Bollywood Bubble, the director revealed that he wanted to make a queer show about the queer joy to tell the world that "please don’t see us only from a lens of being victims, villains or oddities and stop exoticising us".  He added that people will be able to normalise queer love only if "real and authentic representation" is shown.

When asked if he believed there has been a remarkable surge in showing queer love on celluloid, to this, he replied, "It’s not remarkable at all". Elaborating on it he said that there has "not been an intersex or trans representation". "In fact, the representation has perpetuated stereotypes and in many cases has been very irresponsible. It’s been so underwhelming, apart from a few films like Loev, all of Onir’s work, Badhaai Do, has been a great triumph. But the rest, I feel, have left a lot wanting," he continued.

He believes there is a lack of "accurate" representation of the LGBTQ+ community in Indian entertainment. He stated, "In many ways I feel the community is misrepresented because I see a lot of shows where queer lives are used as plot points sensationalize narratives, create drama, and that is very detrimental. So, to queer people and world at large, I see a lot of queer work done with a lot of irresponsibility.”

Jaydeep Sarkar lauded Ayushmann Khurrana and Rajkummar Rao for LGBTQ+ character

When asked how he felt seeing Ayushmann, Rajkummar and Madhuri Dixit, among other play LGBTQ+ characters on-screen. To this, the director said that what Rajkummar did in Badhaai Do, or Ayushmann, and Jitendra did in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan was "brilliant". He added, "It resonated with me as a gay man as they came from a place of empathy.”