The who’s who of Manhattan celebrated the success of Naman Gupta’s LGBTQ short film COMING OUT WITH THE HELP OF A TIME MACHINE at a rooftop party hosted by celebrity chef and filmmaker Vikas Khanna in Manhattan. The film had its New York City premiere at the prestigious Tribeca Festival, as part of the closing night block of queer films on Sunday. Guests of honor at Khanna’s private soiree included Bollywood actor and philanthropist Vivek Oberoi, Delhi fashion designer Mayyur Girotra, Jewelry designer Amrita Singh, Sufi Wines founder Sam Bhatia, New York City’s top realtor Jaswant Lalwani, the film’s producers Nav and Neetu Gupta and James and Teddy Orfanos and lead actors Karan Soni and Sangeeta Agrawal, to name a few. 

“I’ve always been on the forefront of supporting South Asian culture from the very beginning. My heart, my doors are always open to promote anything to do with South Asian food, arts, entertainment, fashion and culture,” said Khanna, who hosted the party on the rooftop of his Manhattan residence. 

COMING OUT was one of 10 films with a Desi connection programmed at Tribeca, the most ever in the festival’s history. “It really feels like our time has come! There are a lot of people from the South Asian community who have pioneered and paved the way for us to stand where we are today, and with Tribeca giving so many of us the platform that we have, it’s truly a momentous year for the South Asian diaspora,” said Agrawal, who plays Soni’s homophobic mother in the film.

At the event, the director made the BIG announcement that the short film is being converted into an episodic television series: “The series is going to be a one-hour drama, and it’s not something that just the LGBTQ crowd or the South Asian crowd or the sci-fi crowd will enjoy. It’s a very international, mainstream, sci-fi, immigrant family drama inter-twined with a LGBTQ romance and rivalry, so I’m super excited about that,” said Gupta. The series is currently in development, and the core team is looking for additional producers and distributors to helm the project. 

“I think it’s really interesting, given the timing of the film right now, especially during PRIDE Month. There are issues, especially within the Desi community, in terms of how parents or children are equipped to deal with coming out, and it is a difficult process for both. But you watch something like this, and it may just make you respond more sensitively…more with the heart rather than the perception of what will my community think of me, what will the world think of me…so less judgment and more love because at the end of the day, that’s what family is for,” said Oberoi, who was at the event to support long-time friends, producers Nav and Neetu Gupta. 

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