Stigma And Self: Gender, Homophobia, And Identity In Chitrangada By Rituparno Ghosh Under The Contemporary Legal Frameworks Of India

Full Text Link

Deeptakshi Bhattacharya, BA LLB, Himachal Pradesh National Law University (2025-30)

ABSTRACT

The present article explores the cinematic depiction of gender identity, stigma, and queer subjectivity in Rituparno Ghosh's film Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish (2012) while focusing on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and its gradual evolution into an important piece of LGBT+ jurisprudence in recent years. The discussion explores the tensions between individual self-conception and socially, legally-defined identities through the film's protagonist, Rudra Chatterjee. Gender in his film is presented as a dynamic entity, continuously constructed via social interactions, and not something biologically imposed, solely. The discussion considers modern legal and judicial developments surrounding the topic of gender identity, including the debates around the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026, in order to reveal the continued tensions between the subjective perception of one's own identity and the state-imposed gender constructs. Employing the theories of queer studies and gender performance, this article tries to demonstrate how stigma affects desire and embodiment, as well as the individual himself. Chitrangada, the film and this article, Stigma and Self, presents cinema as a locus for contestation of normative gender roles in contemporary society.

Keywords: Chitrangada; Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill, 2026; Identity; Homophobia; Stigma.

671. STIGMA AND SELF- GENDER, HOMOPHOBIA, AND IDENTITY IN CHITRANGADA BY RITUPARNO GHOSH U

Download STIGMA AND SELF- GENDER, HOMOPHOBIA, AND IDENTITY IN CHITRANGADA BY RITUPARNO GHOSH U • 283KB