Konkona Sensharma Honoured As 17th KASHISH Pride Film Festival Opens In Mumbai
The 17th edition of the KASHISH Pride Film Festival opened on Tuesday evening at the historic Liberty Cinema in Mumbai, bringing queer visibility and representation to the center stage through cinema.
The star-studded opening night brought together members of the festival board, including Dolly Thakore, Arunaraje Patil, and Viveck Vaswani. Prominent film personalities and activists also attended, such as actors Konkona Sensharma, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Onir, Rajshri Deshpande, Sai Deodhar, Lillete Dubey, Saagar Gupta, Harish Iyer, and filmmaker-archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.
The evening's festivities began with hosts drag queen SeduQtress SoniQa and singer-performer Anuj Talpade. The duo entertained the audience with witty queer banter and paid tribute to Asha Bhosle, setting a celebratory tone for the event.
A major highlight of the opening night was the presentation of the Rainbow Voices Award to actor Konkona Sensharma, recognizing her nuanced portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters in films such as Geeli Puchi, Monsoon Date, and Accused. The award was presented to her by Shivendra Singh Dungarpur. In her acceptance speech, Sensharma spoke about the responsibility of portraying queer characters on screen.
Additionally, the Aravani Art Project was honored with the Rainbow Champion Award for its work in amplifying transgender voices.
During the event, founder and festival director Sridhar Rangayan unveiled the festival trailer and reflected on the significance of maintaining queer spaces.
"It is with great love and passion that we bring this festival to Mumbai audiences. It has been a struggle in these challenging times where LGBTQ+ rights are once again being pushed to the margins. But Kashish will stand as a beacon of hope in creating not only a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community to rejoice, but also lead the way in advocating for their rights through participation of mainstream media," Rangayan said.
The festival is scheduled to continue until June 7, showcasing global queer cinema and hosting various discussions.
