On Sudhanshu Saria’s birthday, love takes center stage in all its boundless beauty as Bollywood’s power couple, Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha, proudly present TAPS, an LGBTQ+ relationship drama, now streaming on YouTube. But for Ali Fazal, TAPS marks a full-circle moment with the man who unknowingly ignited his acting journey.

Recalling his earliest brush with the stage, Ali Fazal shares, “Don’t know how many people can say this but Sudhanshu is the reason I uttered my very first words in the world of acting. We were both in boarding school in Dehradun and he pulled me out of a crowd to hold a light for a play that he had written and was directing. I remember holding on to the light on the steps of the famous amphitheater of the Doon School and being tasked with the all important task of uttering this single line of dialogue, “You blithering nincompoop!” I practiced and rehearsed and calmed my nerves until the moment came and I finally delivered the line. What a feeling! So I’m lucky to know him from that time of innocence and I’m so proud to see where our journeys have taken us. I’m sure TAPS is just another pitstop in that journey and I know there are many more great things we are going to do together.”

Saria's upcoming film, Sanaa, a drama starring Radhika Madan, Pooja Bhatt, Sohum Shah, and Shikha Talsania, had its World Premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Scheduled to release this year, the film follows an ambitious girl who is raging against an internal battle that is rooted in unhealed trauma.