Not all colours of the rainbow: How this new short film dives into the life of the LGBTQIA+ community, and more

Often the intersections that make a person doesnrsquot fit into our version of reality Tara a 20minute fictional film beautifully puts across the conundrum of which part of ourselves is palatable to our nearest and dearest even a loverThe protagonist of the movie Tara is a transwoman who falls in love with a heterosexual man Tara is tapped into her female sensuality and so when she meets Aman the frontman of the band that is playing at a party their chemistry is palpableWriterdirector Ashutosh S Shankar who is a psychology graduate and spends his time between Mumbai and Pune is a queer Dalit and explains that the story came out from the conversations of between his trans friend in Pune and him ldquoShe and I kept talking about how we are forced to manoeuvre our way around our identitiesrdquo he says The 26yearold was more inclined to movies since his childhoodldquoI tried my hand at filmmaking I did a couple of internships I even worked at a production houses and took up directorrsquos assistant gigs for a couple of years At the same time I was writing a bunch of scripts getting a certain worldview of the politics coming from the community But I was also trying to make sense of these identities I kept asking myself lsquoHow do I make sense of thisrsquordquo he addsOne of the things that really stood out to us was that when Tara takes Aman back to her place she asks him to wait outside the door for two minutes When she finally opens the door to let him in there is a wall that seems to be missing a frame only the rectangle imprint remains Most might miss it but for those who know know That comes from a personal experience of Shankarrsquos he tells usldquoWhenever my fatherrsquos colleagues would come home we would hide Babasahebrsquos portrait and it was after many years when we as a family decided that we are no longer going to do this anymorerdquo he explains The expression on Tara is one of guilt and helplessness as she puts back the frame on the wall after Aman leavesAshutosh S ShankarAs we see Tara fall in love we also see her fear developing mdash the fear of being found out mdash a fear that many from the Dalit community suffer from while navigating the world ldquoRight now am I in a position that I can say who I am but many of us canrsquot because there are real life consequences that have to do with you earning a living if you come and say you are a Dalitrdquo he saysThe movie is also produced by Zena Sagar who herself is a transwoman and has been one of the agitators leading the Against Trans Bill Campaign against the Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Amendment Act 2026 which came to effect in March ldquoWhen we began making the movie a year ago the Transgender Act was not there and now the release of the film is even more vital People like Zena and hundreds of trans persons have been at the receiving end of transphobia and have been completely stripped of their autonomyrdquo he saysCurrently the film has been featured at film festivals and the producers and Shankar are trying to find a limited release or even an OTT platform but it has been difficult ldquoA theatre release is difficult for short films because of the duration so we are trying for some kind of OTT release but the terms are very unfairrdquo he says ldquoOne OTT platform offered us only Rs 40000 which is not even a fraction of what it took us to make the movie to make with the additional rider that we cannot show the movies at any festivals While it works for many I am holding out for something betterrdquo he addsWe hope Shankar finds someone because otherwise how will you know what happened between Aman and Tara Our lips are sealed