কৌশিক গাঙ্গুলীর ‘আরেকটি প্রেমের গল্প’ ও ‘নগরকীর্তন’ সিনেমায় বিকল্প লিঙ্গ ও যৌনপরিচয় প্রসঙ্গে চৈতন্য অনুষঙ্গ/ Non-normative Identity and the Subtext of Chaitanya in Kaushik Ganguly’s films Arekti Premer Golpo and Nagarkirtan

Abstract

The demigod Sri Chaitanya gradually turned into a myth down from the Middle Ages. The cult of Sri Chaitanya has seen a resurgence in the contemporary art and culture. This becomes more intriguing as nowadays Sri Chaitanya is seen as a human being, instead of any divine figure. However, the discussion turns into a debate when Chaitanya and and his practised idelogy Gaudiya Vaishnavism is seen through a queer lens. Contemporary Bengali filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly uses Sri Chaitanya and his idelogy as a subtext in his films Arekti Premer Golpo (Just Another Love Story, 2010) and Nagarkirtan (The Eunuch and the Flute Player, 2019). Both these films celebrate non-normative love and along with that explore gender performativity and sexual ambivalence. The paper seeks to analyse how far the director has been successful in contextualising Sri Chaitanya in his delineation of non-normativity and resistance of heteronormativity.