Here's Why Taapsee Pannu's Rashmi Rocket Reminds Us Of Dutee Chand Who Failed Gender Test

In 2014, Indian sprinter Dutee Chand was forced out of Asian Games. Why? Because she failed the gender test.

"When I failed the gender test, it shattered my world. I was always raised as a girl but suddenly one day, they told me I wasn't one", Dutee Chand told NDTV.

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In the trailer of Taapsee Pannu-starrer Rashmi Rocket, Rashmi is a National-level player who is forced to take a gender test because people have tagged her as "mardana" and someone who is "not conventionally feminine". In this humiliating archaic practice of gender test, she is told, "aap apne sare kapde utar lijiye". What follows is a ban and then a case. In the midst of mudslinging, she is left heartbroken.

Dutee Chand, India¡¯s National record-holder in 100 m, faced the same after she was ousted from India's Commonwealth and Asian Games teams in 2014.

This happened because of hyperandrogenism - a condition in which the female body produces more testosterone, almost the same as in men.

Dutee Chand

After fighting for a body that she was born with, she qualified for the Women's 100 m event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, thirty-six years after PT Usha participated in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

In 2019, she showed immense power and confidence as she came out as gay. She became the first athlete to openly come out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. She also spoke about being in same-sex relationship.

Instagram/Taapsee Pannu

Taapsee Pannu's Rashmi Rocket's trailer reminds us of Dutee Chand but that doesn't mean the story is the same. The film is all set to be released on ZEE 5 on Oct 15.