The Indian Home Ministry’s attempt to block the screening could be seen as one example of a broader clampdown on whatever is deemed ‘anti-national’. But what does that say about the mainstream culture?
One could hardly imagine a better illustration than Putin’s regime for the idea that the Presidency is itself a performative performance, ritualized but only too brutally effective, in contrast with the impotence of the demos.
To focus only on the sexual politics misses the critical dimension of the unfolding debates in India about secularism and sovereignty.