It’s Pride Month. A month where the world celebrates the honour of the LGBTQ+ community members who have been through various obstacles in life and have come a long way to deserve acceptance and their right to live a dignified life.
As a country, we’ve come a long way to understand the concept of ‘Love is Love’, regardless of gender, and kudos to the storytellers who have played a keen role in it. From curating queer characters with relatable storylines to normalizing alternate sexualities, Indian OTT has done a good job giving space to queer characters in Indian households. So, as we celebrate Pride month, let us take a look at five queer characters who we ended up loving (more than the leads in most cases)
Peeplika is played by Monica Dogra in The Married Woman – ALTBalaji
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W-a0j-3paA&t=51s
ALTBalaji is probably the only Indian streaming platform that has given the Indian audience some iconic gay characters and introduced them to different sexualities. For instance, Peeplika from The Married Woman. For the first time, we saw a pansexual character on screen. It was refreshing to see the different spectrums of the community being represented. And Monica Dogra played the character so beautifully. No wonder we all are waiting for the second season of the show eagerly.
Karan Mehra played by Arjun Mathur in Made in Heaven, Amazon Prime Video
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0UkDQaR5KQ&t=29s
Arjun Mathur played a gay character in Made in Heaven, and the internet lost its cool. His portrayal of a poised matured the masses and the critics lauded Karan Mehra. We all loved Karan, and especially his quest for love was relatable.
Mrinal Dutt as Preet in His Storyy, ALTBalaji
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u09raS8rjiw&t=34s
Can we accept that Mrinal Dutt as Preet came out as the cutest thing on the internet? In ALTBalaji’s urban relationship drama His Storyy, that released earlier this year, Mrinal played a gay character Preet. He is suave, charming, and a heartthrob. And just like Kunal, the viewers couldn’t help but fall in love with Preet. The chemistry between Preet and Kunal was just too much for us to handle. So yeah, maybe we can confess that we are still not over the chic food connoisseur and critic, Preet from His Storyy.
Bani J as Umang in Four More Shots, Please, Amazon Prime Video
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7NCW8gMtVs
Representing the Bisexual community was Bani J played Umang’s character. In the show, Four More Shots Please on Amazon Prime Video, Umang is a carefree, independent girl who swings both ways. However, as independent as she may come across, she has her own sets of dubiety. And that’s what makes Umang relatable. Bani was the first actor to play a Bi-sexual character on the screens with such finesse. And let’s be honest, we all want a friend like Umang.
Milind Soman as Boris in Paurashpur, ALTBalaji
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQL_2ifqERs&t=8s
In the magnum opus drama Paurashpur released on ALTBalaji earlier, Boris was a character we all cheered for. We all are well versed in how transgender people played a pivotal role in Indian mythology and scriptures. And to see a fictional third gender whimsical character from medieval times was a delight in itself. And who doesn’t love Milind Soman? Especially when one can see him shirtless 😉
Well, let us know which ones your favourite character from the above list. In the meantime, celebrate Pride Month by watching the above shows on the respective streaming platforms.
