Actor Anshuman Jha, who plays a gay man in the OTT-released film 'Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele', claims he was warned by a certain Bollywood bigwig that he should stay away from such a role and subject, especially in the non-comic genre. "I was told by a big producer that it's suicide to play a gay man in a non-comic film in India. As a production I was told I am hammering my foot to back this concept when I have the option of picking any other genre," he says.

"We need to break these set templates and stereotypes and back stories we believe in. I said this story to simply normalise, humanise the LGBTQ+ community in mainstream Bollywood. I feel a sense of redemption for having chosen love and friendship as the core tenets of the narrative. I am grateful to (writer-director) Harish (Vyas) sir and the audiences for trusting me," he says.