IIFM to spotlight India’s first LGBTQ film ‘Badnaam Basti’ for pride night

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) is set to screen a rarely seen piece of Indian cinema history—Badnaam Basti, widely regarded as the country’s first LGBTQ-themed film—during its Pride Celebratory Night on August 22.

Released in 1971 and directed by Prem Kapoor, the film explores a complex emotional triangle involving a bandit named Sarnam, a temple worker named Shivraj, and a woman named Bansuri. Starring Nitin Sethi, Amar Kakkad, and Nandita Thakur, the film was considered bold for its time due to its homoerotic subtext.

Badnaam Basti had a brief run on the festival circuit before vanishing from public view. For decades, it was thought to be lost—until a 35mm print resurfaced in the archives of the Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin. Two US curators stumbled upon it by chance in 2019 while searching for works by another director with the same surname. Their accidental discovery led to renewed interest in the film's legacy.

As part of its Pride programming, IFFM will also feature the Australian premiere of We Are Faheem and Karun, a contemporary queer love story by filmmaker Onir.

The 16th edition of IFFM runs from August 14 to 24 and includes around 75 films from across the globe. This year’s lineup puts a strong emphasis on diversity, with films reflecting a wide range of identities and experiences, including gender, sexuality, race, disability, and women’s representation.

The Pride Night screening aims to celebrate and revisit underrepresented narratives in Indian cinema—acknowledging where queer stories began and where they are headed.