Background
Saran was born and raised in New Delhi to Lieutenant Colonel Raj Saran and Minna (aka Mina) Saran.
Saran was born and raised in New Delhi to Lieutenant Colonel Raj Saran and Minna (aka Mina) Saran.
He completed his education at Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan and scored first on India"s Senior Secondary Examination.
He is best known for the 1999 documentary film Summer in My Veins which screened at a number of film festivals. He had a brother, Mohit. In 1994 he enrolled to study filmmaking at Harvard University, having received a full scholarship.
He was active in Harvard’s Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters’ Alliance.
In 1996 he was one of 123 sophomores awarded a Detur Book Prize, Harvard"s oldest academic honor presented to sophomores for receiving the highest grades during their first year. Before Saran graduated summa cum laude in 1998, he also was a teaching fellow for an intermediate film class.
Saran was both an essayist and an activist. In India he campaigned for gay rights, lecturing at colleges and contributing news articles, reviews, and essays to a number of Indian newspapers.
His writing included the 8 February 2000 Indian Express piece "My sexuality is your business" attacking Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
Section 377 then included a provision criminalizing same-sex sexual activity which was stricken down in 2009. His best-known work was his film Summer in my veins, in which he captured his coming out to his mother on film. Saran lived in Noida.
Saran was killed in a 2002 car accident caused by a drunk truck driver (a hit-and-run incident) at Lodhi Road in New Delhi near Connaught Place.
Five people were killed, including Channel V video jockey Pooja Mukherjee. He was 25 years old. Following his death, his mother Minna Saran established the Nishit Saran Foundation.
She campaigned for the decriminalization of homosexuality in India, becoming a prominent gay rights activist.
He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa academic honors society.