Riyad Vinci Wadia (19 September 1967 – 30 November 2003) was an Indian

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

filmmaker from

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, known for his short film, ''BOMgAY'' (1996), possibly the very first gay themed movie from India. Born into the filmmaking

Wadia family The Wadia family is a Parsi family from Surat, India, currently based in Mumbai, India. The family rose to wealth in the mid-1700s as shipbuilders serving the British East India Company as the latter established its sway over India. During ...

, he inherited the

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

Wadia Movietone Wadia Movietone was a noted Indian film production company and studio based in Mumbai, established in 1933 by Wadia brothers J. B. H. Wadia and Homi Wadia. It was most known for stunt, fantasy and mythological films, including '' Hunterwali'' ...

which is known for the

Fearless Nadia Mary Ann Evans (8 January 1908 – 9 January 1996), also known by her stage name Fearless Nadia, was an Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman, who worked in Indian cinema. She is most remembered as the masked, cloaked adventurer in '' Hunterw ...

movies which are one of their kind in the superwoman and stunt genre when other movies of their time usually portrayed women in submissive roles. Wadia is also known for his award-winning documentary on

Nadia Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja, Nadya, Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In many Slavic languages, names similar to ''Nadia'' mean "hope": Ukrainia ...

, ''Fearless: The Hunterwali Story'' (1993)'','' which was written about in Time magazine and made a name for Riyad at the very outset of his brief but impactful career.

Personal life

Riyad was born in Bombay to Nargis and Vinci Wadia, son of the legendary filmmaker

JBH Wadia Jamshed Boman Homi Wadia (13 September 1901 – 4 January 1986), commonly referred to as J. B. H. Wadia, was a prominent Bollywood movie director, screenwriter, producer and founder of Wadia Movietone Studio. He was born in prominent Parsi fami ...

who was one of the founding fathers of stunt films and mythological films in India. The latter's production firm, Wadia Movietone, which Riyad would later inherit, launched into the Indian film industry (later known as

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

) the Australian actress

Mary Evans Mary Evans (1770–1843), later Mary Todd, is notable as the first love of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founde ...

who was known popularly as 'Fearless Nadia'. Riyad did his schooling at Bombay International School, briefly attended St. Xavier's College, and later went to Australia to the Charles Sturt Film School in Wagga Wagga. Riyad was openly gay, and BOMgAY was India's first overtly gay-themed film.

Recognition

Nicknamed as 'The Turk' of the Indian Independent cinema, Riyad's films are still being referred to in many books about Bollywood, be it gay themes in

Indian Cinema The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...

, or the ones about JBH Wadia and Fearless Nadia. His first documentary, Fearless : The Hunterwali Story, which is based on the life of Mary (aka Nadia) Wadia, got screened at over 50 international film festivals, such as The Berlin International Film Festival (1994) and The London Film Festival (1993). The short film, BOMgAY, with shooting locations such as the gay cruising spots of the Victoria Terminus urinals and the

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

tracks along which people defecate, was described as "part Bollywood, part Genet". The film, based on the gay-themed poetry of the Poona-based R. Raj Rao, explored the underground gay subculture of Bombay and marked the entry of queer themes into Indian Cinema. The film had a limited release in India, thanks to its explicit content. It got screened at a number of international film festivals and finds mention in the research works on the history of queer themes in Indian Cinema as the first queer themed film from India. An award has been instituted in his memory by his mother and brother at the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival and awarded every year since 2011. The Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker is given to first or second time filmmaker whose LGBTQ+ short film is being screened at the festival.

Final years

Riyad tested positive for HIV in 1995. Though he was quite capable of affording the then expensive HIV medication, he refused to be on any kind of dosage. He left India shortly after the production of BOMgAY, supporting himself with petty jobs in New York and writing a regular column for ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...

''. Things got difficult post 9/11, with not many jobs available, forcing him to get back to

. Riyad was lost to stomach

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

on 30 November 2003, in

. At the time of his death, he was in the process of generating funds for his supposed first full-length film (unfinished), ''Naked Rain'', based on R. Raj Rao's novel, Boyfriend. "He made a very important contribution to the gay cause and was one of the central figures to begin the broad-basing of the gay movement in India," says gay activist Ashok Row Kavi. The Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker was instituted with funding from Wadia Movietone (through Riyad's brother Roy) in 2011 by Kashish, the noted international queer film festival held annually in Bombay.

Works

*Films **''Fearless : The Hunterwali Story'' (1993) **'' Bomgay'' (1996) **''A Mermaid called Aida'' (1996) *Writings **''Long Life of a Short Film: The Making of BOMgAY'' **Wadia also wrote

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

for

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wadia, Riyad Vinci 1967 births 2003 deaths AIDS-related deaths in India Indian gay artists 20th-century Indian people Indian LGBTQ rights activists Indian LGBTQ film directors Parsi people from Mumbai Film directors from Mumbai 21st-century deaths from tuberculosis LGBTQ Zoroastrians Tuberculosis deaths in India 20th-century Indian LGBTQ people 21st-century Indian LGBTQ people