Meet India’s first gay ambassador
Award-winning filmmaker Nakshatra Bagwe is India’s first gay ambassador of a social networking site
By : saumya bhatia
Update: 2014-09-06 23:51 GMT
Mumbai: For someone who didn’t dream about making films, 23-year-old award-winning filmmaker, actor and LGBT rights activist Nakshatra Bagwe has come a long way. His journey started on a long sleepless night when he decided to make a short film called Logging Out.
Nakshatra has recently been chosen as India’s first gay ambassador of Moovz, a social content platform for gay men. He shares what it means to be the first Indian gay ambassador, his debut in an Indian feature film as well as an international film.
He says, “I am a filmmaker by accident. I made Logging Out on zero budget and it was ready in two days. I uploaded it on YouTube for my friends to watch and Sridhar Rangayan, festival director of Kashish, happened to watch the film and contacted me.
He asked me if he could screen the film at the festival. The film won the audience choice award and I was presented the award by Resul Pookutty.” Nakshatra was noticed for his simple storytelling and issues faced by the LGBT community.
It was one of Nakshatra’s films that made Somali American filmmaker Afdhere Jama reach out to him for his international project Hearts. Talking about his role as India’s first gay ambassador of Moovz.
“I joined the site as I wanted to promote something which gives me a comfortable experience. It’s a big socio-techno advancement for Indian gay men as now they have their own ‘social networking’ site. It’s a great boost that brands are catering to the LGBT segment. I wasn’t scared of backlash as being friends with gay people or being gay isn’t a crime.”