Took a conscious departure from queer cinema: filmmaker Sudhanshu Saria

Mumbai, Mar 16 (PTI) Filmmaker Sudhanshu Saria says he felt compelled to return to the genre of queer stories with his recently released short film “TAPS” as it is different from the conventional narratives of acceptance.

Saria made his directorial debut with the 2015 romantic drama “Loev”, a same-sex story about two friends and their complex relationship.

“TAPS”, which he has also produced along with Kashish Film Festival and Lotus Visual Productions, gives an intimate look at how a couple navigates their way back to each other.

After the success of “Loev”, Saria said he didn’t want to pigeonhole himself as a filmmaker. Between his debut and “TAPS”, he has directed the social drama “Sanaa”, spy thriller “Ulajh”, and coming-of-age series “Big Girls Don’t Cry”.

“I was fumbling along making my first film, but I remember getting conscious and thinking, I don’t want to define my entire career by making the same type of film. There are so many other aspects to my personality that I want to explore.

“I took a very conscious departure from queer cinema. And so, in a way, it was a great way to celebrate 10 years by coming back to it through ‘TAPS’. But it could have been 12 or more years and it could have never been that. I agreed to produce it because it was a moving script,” Saria told PTI in an interview.

The short, which is available on YouTube, was written and directed by Arvind Caulagi. It stars Ullas Samrat, actor Pulkit Samrat’s younger brother, and Rohit Mehra.

According to Saria, “societal acceptance” narratives have been largely over-explored on screen, adding there’s a need for more nuanced exploration of queer identities.

“It’s a bit discouraging in a world that is already hopeless, to constantly make that same story, where standing up for yourself or being who you are gets you nowhere. So, the thing I love about ‘TAPS’ is that it is about long-term relationships.

“It is about a couple who is figuring how to stay together, to have those conversations, the passive aggressive tonalities, which any couple can relate to. ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ is going to be a great film, no matter if it’s about two boys or a boy and a girl. The story needs to be great,” he said.

Stories that depict the everyday struggles and joys of love are crucial for the filmmaker as they transcend the boundaries of sexual orientation.

“The gender of a story is incidental,” he said, citing the examples of Hollywood movies on same-sex love “Brokeback Mountain” and “Call Me By Your Name”.

Having actor-producer couple Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal on board as presenters for “TAPS” only helps the film, added Saria.

“This idea of a straight couple presenting a queer romance made it more about relationships rather than sexual orientation per se,” he said.

Samrat, who secured his role through auditions, said the narrative is designed to resonate with audiences and also challenge conventional representations of queer identities in cinema.

“We were clear in our heads that we were not going for a stereotype, which is what a lesser director or writer would ideally do, and say that these are the crutches that you can hold and then you will go from there.

“We were looking at it more holistically, which is the case with any sort of human being that you interact with. We were figuring out those human pieces more than anything else,” he said.

The actor said he kept the details about “TAPS” private from his elder brother Pulkit Samrat, best known for the “Fukrey” franchise.

“I know how hard he has worked to break into the industry and create his own space. I’ve also seen him kind of shoot like 80-90 per cent of projects, and then some of them getting shelved. So, it’s not done till it’s done sort of a situation. He didn’t know when we completed ‘TAPS’,” he added.