Rohan Kanawade

Rohan Kanawade is an Indian director associated with the 2020 Hindi movie Best of Kashish Short Films. Rohan Kanawade is known for U for Usha (2019), Sundar (2016), and Khidkee (2017). When it comes to telling the story of a homosexual or someone discovering they have feelings for a person of the same gender, the film industry, like so many others, favors the story of the victim. Rather than telling a love story, the idea is to show the protagonist as a victim, their love without any chance of being fulfilled within the context of backwardness and reactionary politics or social norms.

The Indian film industry, as director Rohan Kanawade points out, is no exception, even though homosexuality has been legalized, creating a specific demand for more positive stories and protagonists whose sexuality is no longer a problem but rather something worth exploring. While it may take some time for mainstream cinema to realize the potential in these stories fully, Rohan Kanawade has taken the first step with his second short feature film, U for Usha, which tells a story set in rural India about a woman discovering her affection for a local teacher.

Even though Rohan Kanawade’s script mentions the cultural and social context of his protagonists a few times, the focus of his story lies in the discovery of Usha’s affection, mirrored by her advances in reading and writing. With her life having been defined by work and taking care of her children, these new feelings and newfound independence are quite the discovery for a woman who was used to concentrating on others rather than herself for most of her life. Kiran Khoje "Kiran Khoje is a Hindi film actress. Kiran has ac >> Read More... shows Usha as someone whose first tentative steps into this new world become a rather insatiable curiosity to explore them more fully.