Nakshatra Bagwe

Award-winning filmmaker Nakshatra Bagwe is India’s first gay ambassador of social networking site catering to gay men

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, which was screened at Kashish MIQFF 2012, and won the audience choice award.

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 had no plans to come into the industry and my family is nowhere connected to films. I have a background in media, and know basic film editing and camera angle. I made Logging Out on zero budget and it was ready in two days. I uploaded the film on YouTube for my friends to watch and Sridhar Rangayan, festival director of Kashish, happened to watch the film and contacted me. He asked if he could screen the film at the festival. The film won the audience choice award and I was presented an award by Oscar-winning sound recordist Resul Pookutty. Actor Anupam Kher was the chief guest, and after seeing my film he remarked, ‘If you can make Logging Out in zero budget and if I sponsor your students, they will make blockbuster films.’ I was extremely inspired and went on to make four more short films.”

His films went to queer festivals and was widely appreciated. 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 on Facebook for his international project Hearts. “He saw my short film PR and sent a message on Facebook. At first, I thought it was a prank. I was familiar with Jama’s work and when we finally met in Mumbai with Nolan Lewis, Mr Gay World finalist 2013, it then sunk in that I am acting in his movie. Besides Hearts, I am also shooting for My Son is Gay, a crowd-funded film by Lokesh Kumar, which will be completed this year. Both the films will see an early 2015 release.”

Talking about his role as India’s first gay ambassador of Moovz, he says, “I joined the site before being signed up as an ambassador as I wanted to promote something which gives me a comfortable experience. I made some lovely friends. 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 any backlash as being friends with gay or being gay isn’t a crime. Being the first Indian to represent a platform felt special.”