Indian film talkshow The Front Row with Anupama Chopra discusses alternative sexuality in Bollywood this week.

Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival director Sridhar Rangayan, openly gay filmmaker Onir, director Karan Johar and actors Randeep Hooda and Saqib Saleem were guests on the show, broadcasting tonight at 8.30pm.

The guests discuss the recently released Bombay Talkies, an anthology of four short films including one, directed by Johar about a gay relationship.

One of India's most famous fashion designers, Wendell Rodricks, has picked a winner for this years Kashish (Mumbai International Queer Film Festival) poster competition.

The winning design shows five hands creating a star-shape with their fingers around the words 'Towards Change'. It was designed by Mumbai-based graphic designer Prachi Patil-Kotkar.

'The victory sign forming a star is graphic and unforgettable,' said Rodricks.

'It is also interesting that the cliched rainbow flag colors have been totally ignored for an artistic backdrop. I loved it.'

An investigation has confirmed that two attackers who assaulted and tried to blackmail a Mumbai commuter were plain-clothed policemen. 

The two accused, Government Railway Police (GRP) constables Ravi Medge and Sandeep Waghchaure, have been suspended but they cannot be traced and are suspected of absonding.

A 28-year-old technician at a pharmaceutical company has spoken out about a homophobic attack last Friday night.

The victim, who is unnamed in a DNA report on the crime, was attacked in the toilet of Vasai Road station in Mumbai on his way home late from work.

'They began raining blows at me and shouted: "Homogiri karne toilet mein aata hai aur abhi sharif banta hai" [you indulge in homosexual acts in the toilet and now you are trying to be decent],' DNA reports.

Yaariyan, a group for queer youth in India, stunned passersby with a flashmob for LGBT rights at the busy Dadar East Station in Mumbai during rush hour on 25 January.

As part of Queer Azaadi Mumbai (Mumbai Pride), Yaariyan members performed a well-choreographed and rehearsed Bollywood-style dance routine.

The routine starts with one dapper dancer who is joined by more and more, all with their hands painted rainbow colors, until they are performing a full Bollywood item number with choreography that includes same-sex couples dancing.

Thirty people were arrested for alleged ‘indecent’ behavior following a raid at a gay party in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai, India.

According to a police officer who spoke with The Times India: ‘The raid was conducted in the wee hours today [10 January] and the accused were caught dancing indecently during the gay party.

‘Six eunuchs were also a part of it’.

Mumbai traffic control has U-turned and decided to give Queer Azaadi Mumbai (Mumbai Pride) permission to march through the city on Saturday 2 February.

'We went in to see the Joint Commissioner of Police Traffic as a delegation, three gay men and two lesbian women,' march organizer Pallav Patankar told Gay Star News.

'We requested that he reconsider our application. He asked us to give him some time, so we went back yesterday and were surprised that we had received permission.'

Traffic control has refused Queer Azaadi (freedom) Mumbai (QAM) permission to march through the city on Saturday 2 February.

Local police has agreed permission for the parade, which has been held every year since 2008, but traffic control rejected the organizers' application.

'They have just rejected our file without even meeting us or giving us any clear explanation,' organizer Pallav Patankar told Gay Star News.

'But we intend o speak to higher authorities and not let it go so easily.'

An Indian filmmaker will be bringing Mumbai's gay film festival to Britain, screening work in venues including one of London's oldest cinemas.

Sridhar Rangayan will show movies from the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, as well as a collection of his own films, in Brighton and the UK capital from now until 30 November.

The finalists for the photography competition run by Yaariyan, the youth wing of Indian gay rights organization Humsafar Trust, have been chosen and the winner will be picked from a public vote.

Winners will be chosen partly via online voting (40%) and by a panel of expert judges who will award for orginiality, technical excellence, compostion, overall impact and artistic merit.

With vivid depictions of a transexual beauty pageant in Thailand, a gay nudist hotel in Bali, the ugly forefront of the fight against the HIV epidemic in Burma and a happy-clappy Sunday service at a ‘gay cure’ church in Malaysia, Adventures in Gaysia has more color than a Pride march in Mumbai. It’s also hilarious and serious.

Gay Star News talks to Australian magazine journalist and author Benjamin Law about the inspiration, the ups and downs and why there’s no need to take notes on penises.

Why did you decide to write this book?

Gay filmmaker Sridhar Rangayan is seeking crowd-funding for his documentary about the repeal of the Section 377, the Indian law that criminalized homosexual sex.

After a long campaign by LGBT groups, the law was repealed by Delhi High Court on 2 July 2009, but that decision is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court.