MUMBAI: TV show Hum Paanch was one of the much-loved and most-watched serials of the '90s. 

Helmed by Ekta Kapoor, Hum Paanch starred Ashok Saraf as 'Anand Mathur', Priya Tendulkar as his dead wife, Shoma Anand as 'Bina Mathur', Vandana Pathak as 'Meenakshi Mathur'. Amita Nangia was later replaced by Vidya Balan as 'Radhika Mathur'. Rakhi Vijan portrayed the role of 'Sweety Mathur' while Bhairavi Raichura played the character of 'Kajal Mathur' aka 'Kajal Bhai'. 

Recently, a user took to social media and described Kajal’s character as an LGBT icon of the '90s. But the show's producer disagrees.

Sharing the same video on her Insta stories, Ekta Kapoor wrote, “Hmm! Nope, How u wish! But def a non-conformist.” The caption of the video read, “Kajal from “Hum Paanch” was a ‘90s LGBT icon. Kajal was called “Kajal Bhai” (Brother/Don Kajal). Everyone at home used she/her pronouns for Kajal, but Kajal used he/him pronouns to self-reference. Gender-nonconforming style: Kajal always dressed in conventionally male-presenting, loose clothes. Kajal Bhai told people to fuck off when they recommended dressing “like a girl.” Check out the clapback clip in this carousel. lol didn’t even spare grandma.”.

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Agreeing with the description, a user wrote, “This is awesome. But (disclaimer that I've never watched this show btw) this sounds more like the tomboy trope to me. Don't get me wrong, the clapback is amazing, and the commitment to such a role down to pronouns etc. is impressive. But I think if anything this is more queer coded or has maybe possibly queer subtext than being decisively queer. Pretty cool, but it looks like this is a character presented as a tomboy to me.”. 

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Credit: SpotboyE