Viveik Mishra: Bisexual and proud

Viveik Mishra is a name that the LGBT community across the country is already familiar with, especially in Bangalore, after local patrons of the Bangalore Queer Film Festival got to see Sundeep Malani’s Shaayad (his acting debut of sorts) in 2010.

Now, with two big projects in hand including the much-talked about Supermodels, starring Veena Malik and Ashmit Patel, and another romantic, Mr. Right Kab Ayega in hand, it’s almost like Viveik Mishra has finally arrived.

So, why was there a need to tell the world of his support of bisexuality now… most of us were left wondering after a mail reached our inboxes? Was this a publicity stunt or was there something more important that the PR machinery was keeping from us? We decided to ask Viveik himself…

“Many people might have assumed that this was done just for publicity, but what they fail to realise is that coming out with your sexuality and talking about it, especially in an industry of bigots, is not the best thing to do for publicity. I am proud of who I am — I am bisexual and am proud of it! So much so, I have been bisexual for the longest time, from as far back as I can remember. The question was never asked, and now that you do ask me, I quite proudly say — yes!” opens Viveik, shocking us with his openness to talk about the issue.

“I hoped that coming out in the open like this will help more people talk about this openly in the future. The industry is filled with bisexual people and people from alternate sexualities and it’s time they told the world about their individual truths. Imagine how much of a positive influence they will have on the young Indian mind. I hope this inspires at least a few more people to come out into the open,” Viveik explains.

We then proceed to ask Viveik if he’ll indulge us with his story and we’re soon regaled by his tales of love gained, lost and refound.

“I have always had male attention directed towards me from a very young age and it came quite naturally to me to indulge some of the healthier of these attentions. As I grew up, more so when I was 19 and in college, I met a man who was 26 years old, an age I assumed much older to me then, and we fell in love. We were soon living together. That relationship lasted for six and half years, before much like a perceived stereotype, he cheated on me. I also found out that he had cheated on me for a very long time and so the pain was far too much to handle at that age. I was forced to grow up much earlier than most people,” Viveik says opening up.

What about a heterosexual experience we ask him, “Well, it happened three years ago when I first dated a woman for a short period of time. It wasn’t a great experience, but she definitely wasn’t the first woman I’d been with. That experience was when I was 21 and though I was drunk that night, I am left with fond memories,” Viveik tells us smiling self-consciously.

“Being out and proud helps people deal with your sexuality more easily. Heterosexual and homosexual people will accept you more easily than people in the closet, who will make your life hard. That’s how it is. The industry is filled with loads of promiscuous people who swing both ways, and funnily enough, they’d rather nobody ever came out. It keeps them all safe, I think. I hope to change that belief and trend. This is way cooler,” he concludes.