ABSTRACT
Cinema fosters social change and gives positive representations to people who are discriminated against on the grounds of sex, gender and sexuality. For most Assamese viewers, alternative sexualities are taboo subjects. The presence of queer characters in Assamese cinema, especially as main protagonists, is a relatively recent phenomenon and has only lately drawn scholarly attention. Contemporary Assamese films such as Bulbul Can Sing (2018) and Jonaki Porua (Fireflies) (2019) seek to give voice to queer characters. Directed by Rima Das, Bulbul Can Sing revolves around three teenagers— Bulbul, Bonny and Sumu—and has the countryside as its setting. Jonaki Porua (Fireflies), directed and written by Prakash Deka, tells the story of Jahnu who lives in a remote village in rural Assam. Drawing on a queer theoretical framework, this chapter analyses and interprets the two films. The essay foregrounds how the chosen cinematic narratives challenge hetero paradigms, break “the heterosexual male gaze” and create space for plural identities and possibilities. It concludes that the two new filmmakers establish a new trend that subverts traditional ways of understanding love and desire—their works can be called the coming of age of queer narratives in Assamese cinema.
