Towards the conception of a Shakesqueer in Ro...

Towards the conception of a Shakesqueer in Romil and Jugal

Author Name : Niyanta Sangal

ABSTRACT

Nupur Asthana’s Romil and Jugal, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, is a queer retelling of the tale from the female practitioner’s point of view. Her rendition of the classic retells the love story of a coming of age gay couple in the landscape of a small town in India. The backdrop serves as an opportunity to see how closeted sexuality and denial of it becomes a pervasive and toxic element of LGBTQ identity in India. The central redemptive aspect of the web series, produced by AltBalaji, is its breaking away from the stereotypical portrayal and representation of queer characters on screen in Indian media. This also becomes a site of investigation for how certain media allow for translation and adaptation in different forms. It is essential to note that it adheres to internet as a cyberscape which allows for such narratives to emerge, since the censorship laws prescribed to films and media in India did not allow the director to turn the adaptation into a film, her primary inspiration in the beginning while reimagining Shakespeare’s original text. She also subverts the tragic end that awaits the star crossed lovers, conscious how such messages further harm the LGBTQ interests at large. She presents a utopia of social acceptance challenging the social norms prevalent in Indian society at large in terms of how institutional authority is subverted. It allows for the creation of a microcosm to recontextualize the classic tragic love story in an environment favourable to it in midst of a varying social reality.

Keywords: queer, Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, shakesqueer, lgbtq