Gangsta Gudiya is a collaboration of artists, coming together to make songs that are entertaining and yet have important, sometimes, silly messages to convey. They aim to highlight issues and topics that are relevant, but in a light-hearted way and that reach a large portion of the public, i. e. stay family-friendly without hurting any sensibilities. Their main focus is humour, but this song comes from the heart and means a lot to all of us.
Team Gaysi chats up with Anisha Sharma (face behind Owl by the Window) to get some low down on their new video, “Out and Proud”.
The Producer on a mission : Anisha Sharma
Q. Before we talk about “Out and Proud”, please tell us a bit about your company Owl by the Window.
Owl by the Window was founded in 2013 by Anisha Sharma and Vishvak Prakkruth. Specialising in video content for the digital medium, we create and produce original concepts for brands across the board.
Having worked in fashion, lifestyle, music, the corporate sector and more, we’re now branching into creating original content for YouTube. Our first such property is Gangsta Gudiya.
Q. While most Indian LGBTQ videos released in the last couple of months were focussed on equal rights, “Out and Proud” talks about freedom to love. Was this theme intentional or is there another story behind it?
Well, I think that the issue goes deeper than just equal rights. Most definitely, it’s the LGBTQ community that’s suffered a lot, but at the root of it, our society at this point is focused more on hate and exclusion than love and acceptance. And that’s why I decided to make that the theme of the song. Even if you take another, related cause like bullying, you notice that it occurs because people view your lifestyle, behaviour and likes, as different from theirs and that is considered to be a bad thing. Add the lack of understanding and acceptance of different viewpoints and this gets out of control.
Q.Tell us about your collaboration with Gangsta Gudiya & Nikhil D’Souza for this song.
Honestly, I’m not a great singer and I really wanted someone with a powerful voice. Nikhil is a friend, and when we initially approached him to sing, he was really moved by the lyrics, and agreed readily and graciously to be a part of this initiative. I think it works, not only because of his fantastic rendition, but also because everyone involved in creating the song and the video, feels as strongly as I do about this issue and has put in the time and effort to make it what it is.
Q. How was it working with fellow community members in the making of “Out and Proud” video? (Now don’t shy away from spilling the beans.)
We’re really overwhelmed at the support and encouragement we got from the community. People took the time out of their busy schedules to shoot with us, despite tight timelines. We hoped to represent every part of the community and hope that we’ve done so, in our small effort to put out an extremely important message.
Special thanks to the Gaysi team for keeping their cool as we ran around the Queer Trivia event, looking to find the creme de la creme of the lesbian community for the shoot!
Q. Any other projects in the pipeline for this year?
We’re working on some extremely interesting content this year, and are hoping to launch another property soon. In the meantime, there’ll be more Gangsta Gudiya videos out, every Friday!
