Queer Bahurupi Love Story ‘The Magical Men’ Heads to Busan’s Asian Project Market

Busan’s Asian Project Market will present “The Magical Men,” a queer love story from writer-director Biplob Sarkar that spotlights the marginalized Bahurupi performance community of South Asia. Produced by Fran Borgia, François d’Artemare, Sankhajit Biswas and Sarkar, the film explores intimacy, resilience and identity against the backdrop of fading folk traditions and entrenched social taboos.

Set in Old Dhaka, “The Magical Men” follows Sukumar and Hemanta, Bahurupi artists who embody Shiva and Parvati during Neel Shashti Puja, even as their craft no longer sustains them. Their secret romance unfolds amid strained family ties, police harassment, and the performers’ personal struggles, culminating in Hemanta’s disappearance and Sukumar’s crisis of memory, love and survival.

For Sarkar, who screened “The Stranger” in Busan’s New Currents section in 2023, the new project builds on his commitment to stories of marginalized communities. “They embody gods and goddesses in their performances, carrying the fading tradition,…