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{{short description|Indian film director}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Riyad Vinci Wadia
| image = Riyad Vinci Wadia.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1967|09|19}}
| birth_place = [[Bombay]], India
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2003|11|30|1967|09|19}}
| death_place = Bombay, India
| nationality = Indian
| other_names =
| known_for = ''BomGay''
| occupation = Filmmaker
}}

'''Riyad Vinci Wadia''' (19 September 1967 – 30 November 2003) was an Indian [[indie film|independent]] filmmaker from [[Bombay]], known for his short film, BOMgAY (1996), possibly the very first gay themed movie from India.<ref name="IE">{{cite news |url=http://expressbuzz.com/magazine/the-secrets-of-a-boys%E2%80%99-hostel/200997.html |title='The secrets of a boy's hostel' |author=Sarma, Udaysanker |date=28 August 2010 |work=[[The New Indian Express]]}}</ref> Born into the filmmaking [[Wadia family]], he inherited the [[production company]] [[Wadia Movietone]] which is known for the [[Fearless Nadia]] movies which are one of their kind in the superwoman and stunt genre<ref name="Nadia-TOI2">{{cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-08/mumbai/29522587_1_bal-gandharva-bal-gandharva-roles |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612050033/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-08/mumbai/29522587_1_bal-gandharva-bal-gandharva-roles |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 June 2012 |title='Once upon a Bal Gandharva' |author=Mishra, Ambarish |date=8 May 2011 |work=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref> when other movies of their time usually portrayed women in submissive roles. Wadia is also known for his award-winning documentary on [[Fearless Nadia|Nadia]], ''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.<ref name="Hunterwali-DNA">{{cite news |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/comment_the-return-of-nadia-hunterwali_1183450 |title='The return of Nadia Hunterwali' |date=14 August 2008 |author=Jain, Madhu |work=[[Daily News and Analysis|DNA]]}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Riyad was born in Bombay to Nargis and Vinci Wadia, son of the legendary filmmaker [[JBH Wadia]] who was one of the founding fathers of [[action film|stunt film]]s 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]]) the Australian actress [[Fearless Nadia|Mary Evans]] who was known popularly as 'Fearless Nadia'.<ref name="Nadia-TOI">{{cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-10-02/ahmedabad/28266089_1_film-ship-logo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612050041/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-10-02/ahmedabad/28266089_1_film-ship-logo |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 June 2012 |title='Surat's Wadias created Fearless Nadia' |date=2 October 2010 |work=[[The Times of India]]}}</ref> 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.<ref name="FEZANA">{{cite news |url=http://www.nextgennow.org/node/38 |title='My brother, Riyad' |author=Wadia, Roy |date=2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100608041044/http://www.nextgennow.org/node/38 |archive-date=June 8, 2010 |access-date=March 2, 2021}}</ref>

==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]], 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,<ref name="The Economic Times">{{cite news |url=http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2002-10-06/news/27366517_1_first-film-documentary-nadia |title='Screen saver' |author=Shukla, Archna |date=6 October 2002 |work=[[The Economic Times]]}}</ref> such as The Berlin International Film Festival (1994)<ref name="HinduNadia">{{cite news |url=http://www.hindu.com/lr/2005/06/05/stories/2005060500110200.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060108211501/http://www.hindu.com/lr/2005/06/05/stories/2005060500110200.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 January 2006 |title='The one and only Hunterwali' |author=Malik, Amita |date=5 June 2005 |work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref> and The London Film Festival (1993).<ref name="The Economic Times"/> The short film, BOMgAY, with shooting locations such as the gay cruising spots of [[Victoria Terminus|the Victoria Terminus]] urinals and the [[Bombay]] [[Mumbai Metro|local]] tracks along which people defecate, was described as "part Bollywood, part [[Jean Genet|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.<ref name="Outlook">{{cite news |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?227507 |title='The Closet is ajar' |author=Ghosh, Shohini |date=30 May 2005 |work=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]}}</ref> The film had a limited release in India, thanks to its explicit content.<ref name="IOWA">{{cite web |url=http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1531&context=etd&sei-redir=1 |title='Transgressive territories : queer space in Indian fiction and film' |author=Mallik Choudhuri, Sucheta |year=2009}}</ref> 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.<ref name="FF1">{{cite web |url=http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/34/qfilmistan.php |title=QFilmistan |author=Morris, Gary |work=[[Bright Lights Film Journal]]}}</ref><ref name="FF2">{{cite news |url=http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2010/05/30/sasod-film-festival-opens-tuesday/ |title='SASOD Film Festival opens Tuesday' |author=Knews |date=30 May 2020 |work=[[Kaieteur News]]}}</ref><ref name="Pink Pages">{{cite web |url=http://pink-pages.co.in/culture/cinema/bomgay/ |title=Bomgay |author=Sood, Karan |date= |work=[[Pink Pages]]}}</ref>

==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]]''. Things got difficult post 9/11, with not many jobs available, forcing him to get back to [[Bombay]]. Riyad was lost to stomach [[tuberculosis]] on 30 November 2003, in [[Bombay]].<ref name="FEZANA"/> 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.<ref name="EGO">{{cite news |url=http://www.egothemag.com/?p=95 |title='Tribute : Riyad Wadia' |date=19 August 2005 |work=[[EGO Magazine|EGO]]}}</ref> The Riyad Wadia Award for Best Emerging Indian Filmmaker was instituted with funding from Wadia Movietone (through Riyad's brother Roy) in 2011 by [[Mumbai Queer Film Festival|Kashish]], the noted international queer film festival held annually in Bombay.<ref name="Kashish">{{cite news |url=http://www.businessofcinema.com/news.php?newsid=18337 |title='Shyam Benegal announces Kashish – India's first Queer Film Festival' |date=23 May 2011 |work=Businessofcinema.com}}</ref>

==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''<ref name="Writings1">{{cite web|url=http://wp.gaybombay.org/reading/BOMgAY_making.htm |title='Long Life of a Short Film: The Making of BOMgAY' |author=Wadia, Riyad |date= |work=[[PlanetOut Inc|PlanetOut]] }}</ref>
**Wadia also wrote [[Column (periodical)|columns]] for [[The New Indian Express]].<ref name="Writings2">{{cite news|url=http://www.expressindia.com/news/ie/daily/19981223/35750794p.html |title='Set me free' |date=23 December 1998 |work=[[The New Indian Express]] |author=Wadia, Riyad }}</ref><ref name="Writings3">{{cite news|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19991124/ile24104.html |author=Wadia, Riyad |title='What do you know?' |date=24 November 1999 |work=[[The New Indian Express]]}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist |2}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0905566}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wadia, Riyad Vinci}}
[[Category:1967 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:AIDS-related deaths in India]]
[[Category:Gay artists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian film directors]]
[[Category:LGBT people from India]]
[[Category:LGBT rights activists from India]]
[[Category:LGBT directors]]
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Film directors from Mumbai]]
[[Category:21st-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:LGBT Zoroastrians]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in India]]

Riyad Vinci Wadia - Revision history

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