The Gift (Siddhant Singh) India |

The Gift
Siddhant Singh
India. 2025. 10 min

The Gift is a fairytale. However, it didn’t start as one. I wanted to toy with the idea of melodrama, a sense of heightened reality which was still tethered by something genuine and true. I have always been fascinated by the artistry of drag; its multiplicity, the theater of it all. It represents such a quiet strength, to be able to live one’s truth through their art, the epitome of personal as political. A drag persona is the soul and the shield of the artist, a fragile balance.

This film developed with the belief that something this personal can become universal. While only two characters are depicted there are actually three of them; the drag queen Haqeeqat, the memory of his sister Meera and his real self, Lalit, all emerging from a single sensibility. Due to this I was able to explore the fluidity between their identities, psychology and desires.

While there is a seed of conflict, the friction between Haqeeqat’s reality and imagination, the film ultimately relies and focuses on desire; Haqeeqat’s desire to reconcile, Meera’s to be set free and Lalit’s to finally feel seen. The experience I’m trying to communicate the most is that feeling of finally breaking open, of being able to desire, whatever that may be.

As the film grapples with its own identity, the illusion keeps breaking, the masks slip away. The fairytale is murkier but something shifts. But within these cracks, a possibility is seen, a seed is germinated, a desire for hope, for life, for love, roots itself.

SIDDHANT SINGH