'Not Going To Dress Up A Man In A Saree,' Vikas Khanna On Casting Transgender For Trans Role
The portrayal of transgender community in Indian cinema has been questionable until today. From Ashutosh Rana's character in?Sangharsh??to Akshay Kumar in Laxmii, stereotypes define trans roles and nothing much has changed over the years. However, things are gradually moving the right direction.?
Unlike most of the directors who make men don a saree for a transgender role, Chef Vikas Khanna waited until her found a transgender to play the role in his directorial feature film The Last Colour.?
"'I'M NOT GOING TO DRESS UP A MAN IN A SAREE & CAST HIM FOR A TRANSGENDER ROLE. WE HAVE TO FIND A TRANSGENDER PERSON' I repeated these words million times until I found Rudrani. I have to use my voice for change that I want to see," he wrote on Twitter as he made the revelation.?
Earlier in a post on Instagram, he had opened up about casting?Rudrani Chettri, a transgender activist, who founded India¡¯s first transgender modelling agency in 2015.
"I sometimes field questions about my choice of casting RUDRANI @rudrani786 ¡ªan Indian hijra (transgender) in the film. Rudrani, an activist who also runs India¡¯s first transgender modeling agency plays Chhoti's friend and protector 'Anarkali' in The Last Color."
On why he didn't chose to "just dress a man up in a saree to play the hijra role?", he said,?
"To me such a decision seemed contrived and I recalled how people of color or certain castes or cultures or sexes have historically been disallowed from portraying their own in films. Hence, while I was developing The Last Color screenplay, it was my good fortune to meet Ashok ji. Ashok is a hijra I met while doing research along the Banaras riverbank. In fact, she lived there.
"What awed me about Ashok was her sheer courage in protecting street kids from predators, sleepless morning to sleepless night¡ªbasically risking her life. The care this already vulnerable member of society showed for these even more vulnerable members of society made her a true mother goddess to them, and to me. I get so emotional just writing about her. Such inspiration and feeling compelled me to cast a hijra in the hijra role.?
Khanna also revealed how he met Rudrani and was moved by her fearless energy.
"When I had the pleasure of meeting Rudrani during auditions, I was equally moved by this miracle child and voice-of-the-silenced-souls' social activism, fearless energy, and eagerness to contribute. Like Ashok did with her flock of at-risk kids on the banks of Ganga, Rudrani serves as Chhoti¡¯s caretaker, guide, and protector. In film and in life, although Rudrani has been the victim of social injustices, though her courage remains unflagging till the end, and I simply loved Rudrani's on-screen portrayal.
"Why would I ever want to take the backward path of denigrating transgenders by not allowing one of their own to portray themselves. The point is, I wouldn't. It would not only be unethical but inauthentic."
Apart from The Last Colour's casting of Rudrani Chettri,?Paatal Lok?had also cast Manipur¡¯s Mairembam Ronaldo Singh, a transgender in real life.
