it would be rather ambitious of a filmmaker to choose not to count on the luxury of dialogue but rely solely on the audiovisual language of cinema even more so when the film wishes to scream out dissent in that sense faraz arif ansaris short film sisak does a beautiful job at thatwhile travelling on the local train one night a young man dhruv singhals daily journey takes an unusual turn after he catches sight of a slightly older man jitin gulati a new passengerread alsolgbt film sisak nominated for the satyajit ray awardsisak the short film thats touted to be indias first silent lgbt love story is truly going places the film directed by mumbaibased filmmaker faraz arif ansari has been nominated for the prestigious satyajit ray award at the london indian film festival seven short films from all over theplotwise the film is simple but the layers are many just through an exchange of glances we sense an evidentgrowing interest in the young man for the passenger but very beautifully they also bring out the angst that comes with not being able to love freely and be in a country that deems samesex relationships punishable by law all that these glances can do are cry for help through empathy emotion and helplessnesssans intertitles which was a key feature of the silent film era or clumsy convenient storytelling ansari creates a palpable chemistry between his protagonists just through a melange of closeups the characters names arent revealed because does it really matter nor is there any physical touch yet theres an intimacy thats unexplainable through their performances dhruv and jitin bring much to the table making the struggle more heartfeltfilmed guerrillastyle its interesting that ansari chose to set the 20minute film in the quintessential mumbai local a space thats teeming with narratives from daily lives but rather underrated in its capacity to enkindle love stories let alone a homosexual one sisak gives due to the cruising that happens on a daily basis in these locals through symbolic visuals overhead handles train tracks and sound evocative music and the din of the train in motion the film beautifully conveys resistance dismay and hope for love without judgementa brave film that expresses dissent against section 377 of the indian penal code sisak rightly deserves its tag of indias first silent lgbt short without saying much it speaks volumes for the queer community and for unrequited love