PROJECT BOLO - About Sexuality and Coming Out

ABOUT SEXUALITY AND COMING OUT - EXCERPTS FROM 'PROJECT BOLO' INTERVIEWS For the first time in India, 20 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) persons in four cities open up in a candid manner to offer an inside view into their lives, views and accomplishments in PROJECT BOLO, meaning 'Project Speak Up'. These in-depth video interviews walk us through their lives - their growing up years, sexual explorations, coming out to family/friends/media, their romances and relationships, their fearless career paths and their pioneering accomplishments. This multi-generational, pathbreaking Indian LGBT Oral History Project talks about what it means for each person to 'come out' (affirming / disclosing one's sexuality) to his/her family, friends, classmates, colleagues and to the media. Sometimes the process could be happy and liberating, but sometime it could be filled with hatred and isolation. Each person who is part of this Project Bolo has been 'out & proud' and are living their life with dignity as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender persons. Project Bolo Vol1 contains interviews with: Aditya Bandopadhyay, Ashok Row Kavi, Betu Singh, Bindumadhav Khire, Dalip Daswani, Gauri Sawant, Geeta Khumana, Giti Thadani, Hoshang Merchant, Jehangir Jani, Lachi, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Manvendra Singh Gohil, Nisha, Parmesh Shahani, R Raj Rao, Ruth Vanita, Saleem Kidwai, Shivananda Khan, Sunil Gupta. Each of them bring a different slice of life experience, a different piece of history, a different tile of India... to form a rich mosaic, a rich tapestry of Indian LGBT life, history and movement that is 'Project Bolo'. Project Bolo is produced by The Humsafar Trust in association with Solaris Pictures and supported by UNDP (India). Producer for The Humsafar Trust is Vivek Anand and Concept, Interviews and Direction is by Sridhar Rangayan. The Project Bolo video-interviews and films can be seen online at www.projectbolo.com, alongwith profiles of the all the 20 interviewees. They are also available on DVD.