5 pioneering Bollywood stars who have supported LGBT rights – Sonam Kapoor to Ayushmann Khurrana and former Miss India Celina Jaitly
These Bollywood celebrities have used their star power to highlight and promote LGBT rights both on and off screen, despite the threat of ostracisation in socially conservative Indian society
Indian cinema is slowly embracing homosexuality on the big screen, but these five Bollywood stars have all lent their voices in support of the LGBTQ+ community long before it was widely accepted. These vocal celebrities spoke out through interviews and social media posts, and some even produced and starred in gay-themed films when it was still considered a risky career move.
Sonam Kapoor
Often mocked for having a career due to nepotism, Kapoor still remains one of the few Indian celebrities who has stood by the LGBTQ+ community for the past decade, be it in raising awareness on social media or supporting queer events like the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival.
She also starred as a closeted lesbian, Sweety, in the 2019 hit Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga.
Ayushmann Khurrana
Khurrana undertook the role of a gay man in Bollywood’s first gay romcom Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2020) to make an “important film in the commercial mainstream space”. He believed that films will normalise same-sex relationship on the big screen and will help those to “realise how important it is to give gay people their rights.”