I just hope that I can touch some lives.” “For me, the definition of home are the people around me”Ī large portion of his memoir narrates stories of his childhood years in Bhutan and then to spending years in Mumbai. I have always been open about myself and I thought that maybe this could-or so I hope-help young people who are dealing with their sexuality. When I grew up, I did not have any references for a very long time and I realised that especially within our film industry, we hardly have anybody who would say they are gay. Other than telling his own story, what more did he expect out of the book? He answers, “One of the things I discussed with Irene was the realisation that so many young adults messaged me on social media, wanting to know how it was to come out, being out and proud, the challenges of it all and a lot of these questions. I was like I feel like I am retiring by writing this!” he tells me as we settle down for a virtual conversation.
“It took my agent five to six years of trying to convince me to write it because I felt it was too early. Having revisited Onir’s films as a millennial and been impacted by the nuance they show, especially in their treatment of queer characters, cinema is a subject I come back to during the course of this interview.īut not before I ask him what specifically led to him writing a memoir now, at this very moment in time.
