Recently, after facing a delay of over a year, Harish Vyas’s story about a gay and a lesbian who embark on a road trip, Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele, opened to the Indian audience on the OTT platform of Disney+ Hotstar. The film featuring Anshuman Jha, who is also a producer on it, and Zareen Khan had over two million streams in it’s first week of release, and got a good response.
While talking to Spotboye.com exclusively, the writer-director revealed how the idea of the film originated in his head. “A while ago, I made a documentary with my friend Neeraj Bhasin, titled, My Friend Sue. It was based on a real character, a friend of ours from art college who was gay. We didn’t know for a long time that he was homosexual because in our Indian movies we have seen a very caricaturized representation of that community. He was a very loving person and I got to know about his orientation after a very long time. So, I had a thought about making a film on this community since then,” Harish reveals.
When this idea was budding in his head, Harish also had a discussion with a teacher. “I had a teacher whom I asked if it is possible for a gay and a lesbian to fall in love. She told me that it wasn’t possible, and when I asked why, she said there is no physical compatibility between the two. I told her that I am not talking about that, I am talking about love that is beyond physicality. When you love someone, you love them irrespective of anything. So, that was an idea that I wanted to take forward and make a film on,” he shares.
However, the road ahead wasn’t easy. “It was an idea that not many people wanted to back. It was a different concept and they weren’t sure if people would accept it,” Harish informs, adding that things took a turn one night in New York. “I was in New York for the premiere of my film Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain in a film festival where coincidentally Anshuman Jha had also brought his film Mona Darling. While riding from the airport, we took a cab together where he asked me what I was doing next. I told him about this idea that I had about a gay and a lesbian, who meet and then their emotions and feelings also align and they get attached to each other. It was a story about soulmates and Anshuman liked it a lot. So, that’s how the journey of the film began,” Harish concludes.
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