Shivankar Arora’s directorial Identity has crossed three million views on YouTube. Happy with the response around the short film, the filmmaker feels encouraged to make more such content for viewers and loyal subscribers of his channel Content Ka Keeda, which is co-owned by his sister Shipra Arora. Interestingly, Shipra is the writer of the story.
“The film deals with a boy struggling to find his gender identity, he is confused as to why he can’t identify with being a female. And, at the same time, his mother is fighting for her own identity, having to deal with an abusive husband. This film is one of my favourite films so far. In a society where boys wear blue and girls wear pink, the kid rightly questions who made this rule. He also questions why can’t he wear pink and play with dolls?,” he shares about the story of Identity.
Directing a child can be difficult. Shivankar talks about the experience. He also praises Sandeep Anand and Richa Sony for their cooperation.
“Yes, kids are difficult to shoot with. You have to be super calm and understand their mood swings but it was a piece of cake with Aarav Sharma. He was well prepared with his lines, which really helped the shoot go smooth. Sandeep is an amazing actor and a very humble human being. We had full faith in him that he would rock. He is known for his comedy but we have been giving him this negative role and he nailed it. This is the first time we worked with Richa and she surprised me. She is one of the finest actresses and just blew us with her performance,” he adds.
The subjects that Shivankar and Shipra choose for their short films are all real and relevant. And, the director shares that it is a conscious decision on their part. “As a creator, we feel it’s our social responsibility to highlight relevant issues and stigmas. We want to break the taboo in society and help as many people as we can with our work. LGBTQ needs attention and we are just doing what we can. Directing this film was the proudest moment for me. Shipra is an amazing writer and this film just proves it,” he ends.