No matter where you live, it feels like we’re in a culture war these days about race, religion, age, sexuality and everything else. The new short film “The Timepiece,” deals with several of these issues in a real-life way.

From writer, director and star of the project, Karan Choudhary, “The Timepiece” is a story about Sunny (Karan Choudhary), a young straight man from India, and Larry (Bill Bateman), an aging gay man, who turn a chance meeting into an unlikely friendship that ultimately changes their perspectives forever.

The film has been a hot ticket on the festival circuit with a slew of recent screenings and is continuing on the circuit with upcoming ones at the DTLA Film Festival in Los Angeles, Festival Angaelica in Minnesota and then the International Short Film Festival in Melbourne, Australia.

Originally from India, Karan moved to New York City to study acting and soon after started making his own projects. He won Best Short Documentary and Best Message awards for his docu-short “Dedication”; and then earned five festival awards and even sold his narrative comedic short “New York’d.”

I recently caught up with Karan Choudhary to find out more about his latest film:

Tell us about your short film “The Timepiece.” Where did you come up with the idea for it?

KARAN CHOUDHARY: Thank you so much for talking to me about my new film. THE TIMEPIECE is a story of an unlikely friendship between two people from different cultures, different generations and different sexual orientations.

The idea for the film came from my real experiences. New York City is full of a diverse group of people and so many cultures collide with one another. I come from India and it’s totally normal to be a close friend to another guy, hold hands or put your arm around your guy friends’ neck. But in New York? It isn’t. At least in my experiences. After a while, I noticed that I’m getting a lot of unwanted attention for my “normal” behavior I brought with me from my culture.

That’s what inspired me to make this film and tell the story that it’s ok to be a friend to another guy. Two guys from different sexuality could be seen together and grow their friendship without any prejudice involved from one another or society.

What would you consider Sunny’s ‘best’ quality? And his ‘worst’?

KC: Sunny’s best quality is that he accepts people for who they are and not based on their gender, sexuality, political or cultural views . And after watching the film you’ll find out that his worst quality is that he doesn’t know when to ask a girl her number.

Any interesting stories from the set you can share with us?

KC: Yes, we had to go through a major problem while filming. This film was shot in two seasons, summer and winter, for specific reasons for the story line. Our sound guy lost one day worth of sounds from a summer scenes and we find that out in winters. So, we had to re-shoot the summer scenes in winters, cheat our way to make it look natural. It was really hard to shoot outdoors in New York winters while wearing summer clothes.

What’s the biggest lesson you learned from working on this project?

KC: The biggest lesson I learnt from working on this project is to always check the daily footage after shooting and make sure you have all the sound for the day and always be prepared for the worst thing while filming.

And, now just for fun:

Who’s your favorite actor/actress?
KC: I wish I could just give one name but that’s impossible. My favorite actor is Daniel Day Lewis, and Humphrey Bogart. Favorite actress: Meryl Streep and Kathryn Hepburn.

What role from the past do you wish you could have played?
KC: Denial Day Lewis’s Character from Gangs of New York.

Favorite movie?
KC: Gangs of New York and Wolf of Wall Street and funny girl.

Tell us one thing that would surprise our readers to learn about you.

KC: I barely watched any Hollywood films or knew about any Hollywood actors before I moved to America in 2013 and since then I have seen every film from 1929 till now that was awarded for academy awards in every major category. That’s about over a 1000 films.

How can fans keep up with you?

KC: Thank you so much for chatting with me. Fans can reach out to me at:

Website: KaranChoudhary.com link
Instagram: @karanmrmr link
Facebook: /keithnkieth link
Twitter: @karanmrmr link