India’s first silent LGBTQ love story 'Sisak' screened in Delhi

A few days before the Supreme Court passed its verdict on the legality of Section 377 of the IPC and decriminalized homosexuality, a screening of India’s first silent LGBTQ film 'Sisak' was held in Delhi. Filmed entirely in the Mumbai local trains, 'Sisak' is a short film that tells the unfulfilled love story of two homosexual men.
After the screening received a standing ovation from the audience, director Faraz Arif Ansari took to the stage and interacted with the audience.“This film is close to my heart because initially, two big names from the film industry were supposed to be a part of it, but they backed out at the last minute. So, in the end Dhruv Singhal and Jitin Gulati stepped in when I posted on Facebook that I was looking for actors. The shoot was done without permissions on Mumbai local trains, in full guerrilla style. I thought if you are making an LGBTQ film, why should you pay the state for it!”
Faraz Arif Ansari, the director
Dhruv, a Gurgaon-based actor, who faced the camera for the first time, said, “I was initially very apprehensive about featuring in this movie because I thought what if there was some intimacy in it, which I wasn’t comfortable with. But when I came aboard I realized how beautiful a story it is. Films like these are an effort to show that in the end, love is just love.”
Dhruv Singhal, one of the actors