One’s sexuality is as intrinsic as one’s nationality: Mozez

Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 10, 2022)

Filmmaker Mozez Singh is open about being gay, but doesn’t believe in going out of his way to talk about his sexuality at the drop of a hat. As the world celebrates Pride month, he says it’s a conscious decision, because he doesn’t want it to be considered separate from normal in the first place.

“If somebody asks a question (about his sexuality), I answer it. It comes through my work. I don’t think hammering it into people’s heads [is needed]. Being gay, straight, lesbian... it’s as intrinsic a part of who you are as being Indian or Chinese,” says the director of the web show Human.

Singh points out how a straight person is never repeatedly called that. “You never say, ‘This guy or girl is heterosexual’. When people talk to me about it, I am like, ‘It’s in the privacy of my bedroom, how does it even matter?’ It’s not something I need to announce every time I walk into it. People constantly make it (a queer person’s sexuality) the main thing,” he explains.

His sartorial choices, too, haven’t been exactly conventional. And for that, Singh confesses that he does field comments. “I have never had a stylist. The thing is, I enjoy fashion so much, I love it, I understand it academically. If I don’t style myself, I would be depriving myself of life’s greatest joy. I love dressing up, but I keep hearing comments like, ‘You are so different from other directors, they don’t dress like this’, and I say ‘F**k that’. I am going to express myself... I work harder than any other person in the [film] unit. My work has to be defined by how good or bad it is, and not by my clothes,” the filmmaker concludes.