When compiling an alternative guide to cinema for Bombay Dost magazine, I had, without much uncertainty, included Harmesh Malhotra’s Nagina, a cult classic from the 1980s. It did not have any queer characters, nor was there a homosexual theme, subtextual or otherwise, embedded in the narrative. However, the film did star Sridevi, in one of her most iconic roles, as an icchadhaari nagin (literally shape-shifting snake-woman) who sporadically breaks into an almost infectious dance, writhing on the floor, flashing her imported coloured lenses, and striking like a serpent at onlookers, tantriks and snake-charmers alike. In that moment, so peculiar to Hindi masala cinema, a gay icon was born purely out of the irrepressibility of Sridevi’s screen persona.

Heart stopper: Sridevi strikes a pose