Shalini Kantayya is the girl Steven Spielberg is keeping a keen eye on. The 30-year-old is making waves on his DreamWorks show, On The Lot, currently being aired on Star World on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The reality talent hunt for a burgeoning filmmaker who wins a million dollars and assists the ET-maker himself, is what couch potatoes and film junkies the world over are talking about.

Incidentally, I’ve had the good fortune of making a film with the talented Shalini myself. Six years ago, as she and I sipped iced tea at Bandra’s Pot Pourri, we decided to make a film about my coming out. We called it Bombay Longing and screened it at Shireen Gandhy’s Gallery Chemould.

Last week, Shalini made another coming-out film that had her fellow contestants and judges rooting for her. It was called Laughing Out Loud: A Comic Journey and starred Vidur Kapur, a dear friend and a New York-based stand-up comic.

Shalini is obviously elated. She’s locked up at the show and unavailable to the outside world. But in the stock interviews provided, she says: “This may be the fast-track to realising my dreams as a filmmaker”.

Her actor, Vidur, is available though. “We filmed the entire short in one day. It was exhausting but we had incredible chemistry working together and a lot of fun,” he says. “She’s very organised and hardworking, yet sensitive and compassionate.”

In the film, we see Vidur play a stand-up comedian getting ready for his act, applying kohl and talking on the phone about being gay. Asian, gay and out-of-the-closet, Vidur’s character has made it big in the Big Apple despite these odds.

“My love for visual storytelling also became integrated with my love for human rights. I always considered myself a humanist and was always inspired by stories of ordinary people who overcome seemingly insurmountable hardships. Filmmaking is not just my profession; it’s my calling,” Shalini’s interview reads.

Vidur is very positive about this film that goes beyond being an entry for On The Lot. “It’s important to generate awareness and acceptance as Asians in the USA. A movie like this is so important to get people to question their beliefs and assumptions,” Vidur adds. “Besides, my manager believes Shalini and I should be nominated for a GLAAD media award for this movie.”

To roll back a bit, Shalini came to India in 2001 when she made her first feature on the Kumbh Mela. The Fulbright scholar wanted to make a movie that connected her to her motherland. Raised in America by a single mother, she was in search of her roots. She has also just made a film with Nandita Das.

Now, watching her on TV push the envelope for Asians and gays makes me proud. So, congratulations Shalini, I’m cheering for you.