Title Pending 7692

This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.Indian Cinema, especially the popular Hindi cinema has been questioned for building upon a nationalist project based on a postcolonial bourgeois social engineering. The arrival of Netflix and other global streaming OTT platforms have given birth to new socially relevant entrepreneurial filmmaking that deals with inclusive representations and significant issues. This study examines the emergence of mainstream Hindi films that introduce a discourse on gender and sexual politics through subverting traditional masculinities and femininities or queering traditional rituals through LGBTQ+ representations. This paper looks closely at recent films Badhai Do (Give Congratulations, 2022), Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (Be extra careful of marriage, 2020), Bala (2019), or Shubh Mangal Savdhan (Let the Marriage be fruitful, 2017) and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (How I felt when I saw that girl, 2019). Situating them as entrepreneurial efforts to challenge hegemonic discourses in India's current right-wing Hindu nationalist climate, this article seeks to uncover the transformative potential of innovative filmmaking practices through the creation and dissemination of counter-narratives and highlights how cinematic storytelling to can contribute to social changes in contemporary India.