Indian TV ready to transition?

The hit sitcom Modern Family is back in the news again, this time because a child artiste who is a transgender, will soon be part of the show and will play a prominent role of a transgender.

However, it isn’t time for the transgender community to rejoice yet, because Indian TV shows and films still have a long way to go when it comes to hiring transgenders to play the role of one. In fact, most Indian films show transgenders in a derogatory light, either for comic relief or as sexual predators of sorts and people from the community feel that it is time that things change.

Former Splitsvilla contestant, Gaurav Arora recently revealed himself as Gauri Arora after transitioning into a woman. Gauri says that getting a decent role is next to impossible here, “While Hollywood is very experimental, I don’t think Bollywood is quite there yet because the audience is not ready for it. People in the industry are shy about approaching a transgender person for a role. After Splitsvilla, things have been difficult for me as job offers are scanty and most need me to do funny roles.”

Muvvala Lakshmi is a trans woman who has been a Telugu television anchor. She feels that even though there is a lot of talent within the community, they are not given a serious opportunity. “Many of us can act and dance but don’t have a platform to showcase our skills. There is also a lack of communication between the transgender community and the society,” she explains.

Director Teja surprisingly is on the lookout for a trans person for his upcoming film starring Rana. He says confidently, “I don’t know how open Tollywood is to transgenders playing pivotal roles, but I definitely am. Many transgenders don’t want to act in front of such a large audience because our society is not so open. The way we look at them makes them uncomfortable,” he says.

However, actor Raj Kumar Rao, who had initially agreed to play a transgender in Ami Saira Banu, directed by Anurag Kashyap, has a different perspective. “If you go by the logic that you have to cast a transgender person in a transgender role, then why not doctors to play doctors and engineers to play engineers? Of course, it would be great if someone did cast a transgender person in their movie,” he says.