When drag icon RuPaul said "we're all born naked and the rest is drag," she was exploring the trenches of what it means to be human, and what drag represents beyond the general understanding of queers who wear flashy couture, rock flamboyant makeup, and engage in fiery lip-sync battles.
In India, drag has existed for longer than we can imagine. While drag may have manifested in ways different than how it evolved in the West, it has consistently remained a part of Indian culture and is not necessarily a "new phenomenon."
During tricky times like 2023 whenlegislators in various states of the US are passing laws aimed directly atlimiting the art of drag and while on our own soil, thegovernment's legal representative conflates homosexuality with incest duringSupreme Court hearings on marriage equality, drag standstestimony to the power of exercising your identity and shape-shifting in aworld that has lost its penchant for equality and acceptance.
What is it like to practice the art of dragin Indian cities? While many LGBTQIA+ positive bars and social spaces arerelatively recent in India, the art of drag is not. "The artform hasalways existed in the country... They didn't necessarily call it drag. Even asmall thing like Govinda playing his sister or mother in a movie is also drag.Aamir Khan playing a woman for a Coca Cola ad is also drag. Hrithik Roshanplaying an old woman's character in Dhoom is also drag," said Betta NaanStop, a well-known drag queen in India.
"But nobody called it drag. The dragterm has been popularised by American ballroom culture. There have been artistswho've been doing drag but didn't call it that before the artform becamecommercially famous," she added.
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Let's be real - it's not easy being a dragqueen in India, or anywhere else at this juncture in history. By blurring theheteronormative lines of gender identity and expression, drag queens arereinforcing the key theme of the LGBTQIA+ equality movement - thereis no one right way to be yourself. And that's true for drag as well. "While dragstarted with impersonation of women, now it has become gender-neutral -actually against gender altogether. Earlier, it was men impersonating women...Now, there are no rules to doing drag - you can be a drag queen, a drag king,or a drag alien."
Historically, drag has been wronglyidentified as purely a mode of entertainment. As Hash Brownie, anotherwell-known drag queen pointed out, "In today¡¯s world drag has evolved somuch that it may be used as a form of protest, education, and awareness.¡±
"Drag in India is still in itsintroductory phase, and people are opening up and becoming ready to learn moreabout this artform," Hash Brownie added. ¡°While there are subtle dissimilarities onwhat drag means in different parts of the world, it still unites us¡ and hasmade it possible for people to make it their full-time profession. Even then,we are still on our way to be accepted by the mainstream media.¡±
In fact, even within the community,performance venues are becoming more inclusive. "The best part I like ishow organisers now are more trans-inclusive and femme-inclusive than how itused to be earlier with focus on masc-for-masc guys," said Betta NaanStop. Not too long ago, as Betta recollected, party invites would come withclear warnings that said "no trans, no cross-dressers allowed.""I was like, what the hell? Aren't we part of the community?"
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Thankfully, things seemed to have improved.As an artist programme manager at Kitty Su, Betta Naan Stop has made consciousefforts to represent all the colours in the rainbow to highlight how versatilethe queer artists are. ¡°The rise of drag has also helped other identities takecentre-stage as well. Such places don't just host drag queens, they also hostqueer artists. A trans woman who's performing and not calling it drag is alsoon the stage,¡± she added.. But it¡¯s not been a smooth journey, and challengesstill remain. ¡°A lot of people used to confuse drag artists with trans women,and because they associated trans women with sex work, they thought we were sexworkers as well. People would approach us and ask "¡°kitnaleti hai tu ek raat ke liye?"¡± [howmuch do you charge for a night?] Now, I just say,"honey, you can't afford it."
Betta looked back at an incident from whenshe used to teach dance classes to kids at her residential society. ¡°When mysocial profiles went public, the kids stopped showing up and I had to stop theclasses. When I asked one of the kids, they said "mummy ne mana kiya hai." [my mom said no].¡±
As Hash Brownie put it, ¡°dressing up hasalways been associated with sexual fetishisation.¡± Owing to this inaccuraterepresentation, drag queens are wrongly labelled as groomers, as we¡¯ve seen inthe dangerous rhetoric employed against drag queens around the world. ¡°Callingdrag queens groomers is absurd and is just another political campaign todistract people from real issues. The same people who are calling drag queensgroomers are the ones who support religious factions who have a recordedhistory of grooming kids,¡± Betta added.
To experience drag, one has to come with anopen mind. ¡°A drag show could probably change your life and how you see life!My first drag show changed me,¡± said Hash Brownie. ¡°There is always a riskinvolved because we usually open the doors for everyone, but you never know howa certain group of people would react to that. We try not to hurt anyone¡¯ssentiments by our performances, but there will always be a lingering sense offear until we get our basic rights to live as we please.¡±
¡°Drag is not that commercially famous inIndia for politicians to use it for votes. Our country still doesn't fullysupport the LGBT+ community in general. Our first goal right now is marriageequality, and I want to get married as well,¡± said Betta. Even then, India ison the right track, she added. Many queer artists including drag queens havegraced the covers of magazines and added to the shimmer of fashion shows inIndia, but ¡°we're still scratching the surface.¡±
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Queer spaces are now quickly emerging inmetropolitan cities of India. How important is it to have performers with theirsafety in regard? ¡°As performers, a safe space is where we have queer staff orsensitisation about the queer community,¡± said Hash Brownie. ¡°We also performat non-queer spaces, but there is always an awkwardness or some sort of tensionin the back of our head, about whether we are going to feel welcomed.¡±
Historically, women have been at the centreof drag discourse - from pop musicians like Cher and Beyonce to the everydaylives of women. My visual aesthetic is not exclusively drawn from big pop girlslike Lady Gaga or Madonna, it's also inspired by women who're not the highlightof the night but are able to catch your attention,¡± claimed Betta.?¡°Women are still not recognised. Whateveractivities they do are dismissed because they're not commercial or they're notmonetised, hence many of us draw inspiration from women¡ I feel more empoweredwhen I'm Betta. When I'm presenting as feminine, it brings out my highest levelof self-esteem.¡±
Could something like RuPaul's Drag Race work in India??"We have extremely talented drag artists in India and we can compete on the international stage as well. But before that happens, we need more venues, we need more off-air competitions," opined Betta Naan Stop. Hash Brownie, too, believes that more resources need to be made available to the queer community before something like Drag Race can materialise in India. "We still don¡¯t have many queer spaces available to choose drag as a fulltime career." "People should be made aware of what drag is before we introduce a reality TV that represents us... Drag Race is not just reality TV, it's a global representation of queer community, history, and art!"
The LGBTQIA+ community still lacks a basicframework of equal rights in India, and people in the community are thrust intothe face of hatred and dismissal every day. To the naysayers, Betta Naan Stopsays - ¡°We know you're interested, we know you're watching. Instead of beinghateful, come join us for a good time together.¡±?
"In the words of miss Alyssa Edwards: Don¡¯t get bitter, Just get better!" added Hash Brownie.
What do you think about the journey of drag in India? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.?For more stories on the LGBTQIA+ community and queerness in India, keep reading?Spectrum?on?Indiatimes.