Santanu Bhattacharya grew up in the ’90s, a time where terms such as “queer” and “gay” were familiar, yet expressing oneself was still difficult. “There were two very contrasting feelings sitting side by side—on the one hand, you’re very painfully, terribly alive to your preferences, but on the other hand, you also know that you have to do everything in your capacity to hide it because of Section 377 which criminalised us,” says the 43-year-old author. 

Bhattacharya’s second novel Deviants captures this very experience. It chronicles the lives of three generations of gay men in India, delving into their struggles for love and dignity against societal and legal challenges. The narrative goes from Sukumar, who had to keep his love a secret due to social taboos, to his nephew Mambro, who faced persecution under colonial-era laws, and finally to Vivaan, Mambro’s grand-nephew, who navigates love in the digital age with the support of his parents.