How Bad Is Trans Representation In Bollywood?

Usually reduced to objects of mockery, menace or suffering, the portrayal of trans characters in Hindi cinema still has a long way to go

In 2024, as the global discourse around gender and representation gains prominence, trans representation in Bollywood remains a puzzling paradox of visibility and obscurity. Whether it’s one of the first Bollywood trans characters/Hijra representations on the big screen in Mahesh Bhatt’s Sadak (1991) and, later, Tamanna (1997), or the appropriation of trans lives in Raghava Lawrence’s Laxmii (2020), these films, while centred around the Hijra community, also tend to villainise them.

Opportunities for representation and transgender roles in Bollywood are served like a sour cocktail of gentle transphobia in films like Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui (2021), which redeems itself simply because it is the only film that shows the audience a transitioned woman who has the means to be able to ‘pass’. Passing as a gender means that you look like a conventional member of the group. So passing as a man would mean that the person looks as if they were assigned male at birth and meet the cultural standard of male presentation. .

Using Bollywood as the focal point, how has the Hindi film industry fared when it comes to the representation of trans characters in its films over the years? 

Tamanna (1997) 

Directed by Mahesh Bhatt and written by Tanuja Chandra, Tamanna was a film pretty ahead of its time. It was one of the first instances of watching a trans character in a mainstream Bollywood film in a positive light. Paresh Rawal, a cis-male actor, played the role of transwoman Tikku who works as a Bollywood make-up/hair stylist in Mumbai . The character of Tamanna—played by Pooja Bhatt–only gets saved and adopted because Tikku saw her being abandoned in the trash (an unfortunate result of unwanted pregnancy or parents wanting male offspring). The intention of the film might not have been to show trans people in a good light, but the nuanced portrayal showcased the harsh realities as well as how it shapes the characters, preserving their humanity till the end. 

• The movie used to be available on Amazon Prime Video but is currently unavailable on streaming platforms..

•  7/10 for its attempt, cast, and plot line, but -2 for the director being Mahesh Bhatt.

  Sangharsh (1999)

Sangharsh is another trans-inclusionary film made by Tanuja Chandra and Mahesh Bhatt, with the latter writing it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t able to do much service to its trans and primary antagonist, Lajja Shankar Pandey, played by cis-male actor Ashutosh Rana. It’s not that trans characters cannot be portrayed as villains, but the problem arises when a villainised community is shown as murderers who kidnap and k*ll children. The Hijra community is often symbolised to be an essential part of Hindu mythology where they are depicted to be closer to gods due to their ‘ambiguous’ gender identity. Portraying a Hijra villain who sacrifices children for her faith at a time when the society is not accepting of them, defeats the purpose of representation. 

• The film used to be available for free on YouTube, but currently remains unavailable on all viewing platforms.

• 4/10 for its attempt and cutting points for villainising and  the involvement of Mahesh Bhatt once again.

Style (2001)

One of the first collaborations between actors Sharman Joshi and Sahil Khan as Chantu-Bantu, this N. Chandra-directed film was also Bobby Darling’s debut,making her the first openly trans actor in Bollywood to play a queer character. While she plays a relatively minor role, she’s present on screen and makes sure her expressions speak for her character. We don’t see people bat an eye towards her, which we only realise in hindsight is perhaps the best bit. She was never singled out as a student but was shown as part of the usual college troublemakers.

• The film is available for free on YouTube and on Prime Video and Zee5 with subscriptions.

• A solid 8/10 for its menacing comedy, inclusion of Bobby Darling, and cutting points for random misogyny. 

Masti (2004)

There aren’t many positive things one can say about Masti as a movie and as a franchise that has aged sourly, not only because of bad writing but also because of its outdated misogynistic and queerphobic material. For example, Rakhi Sawant’s character at first is lusted after by the men, but immediately becomes a “hilarious plot twist” once she’s revealed to be a transwoman. The persistent question of this Indra Kumar-directed film is– why does the primary plot involve cis-men trying to cheat on their wives without being caught? Why is adultery being shown as a ‘comedic’ plot point?

• The film is available on Youtube, Jio Cinema, and MX Player for free and on Prime Video and Apple TV on subscription.

•  A spicy 1/10—that 1 is for how cute Genelia D’souza looks in the film. 

Kya Kool Hai Hum (2005)

This Ekta Kapoor film from the early 2000s lost a good script to misogynistic comedy that normalises queerphobia; it had the potential to be more. We are presented with a subplot involving a trans woman finding love, but it soon becomes a twisted tale. Bobby Darling, playing the role of Kiran, is shown to be a transwoman who almost marries a cis-man, Karan (Riteish Deshmukh), without revealing she is trans. Ideally, Karan would not have cared about Kiran being trans and could have left her because he fell in love with someone else. But showing it as an act of betrayal makes it a sour watch.

• The film is available on YouTube for free and on Prime Video by subscription.

• 2/10 for its attempt—bad, but an attempt nonetheless.

  Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022)

Possibly not the best case of representation but even without context, it's an attempt that made sense. Actor Vijay Raaz plays Raziabai, a local politician and brothel runner, who is also a Hijra. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it was common for transwomen to be portrayed as brothel owners and villains, but what made Raziabai’s an interesting portrayal is that she was never villainised. She was just another rival that Gangubai (played by Alia Bhatt) encounters, and by the end of the film, they end up becoming each other’s silent allies.

• The film is available on Netflix by subscription.

•  A 5/10. Would’ve given it a 6 but Raziabai wasn’t as prominent a character as she could’ve been. 

  LSD 2 (2024)

• Known to have ‘bombed’ at the box office, LSD 2 (Love, Sex Aur Dhoka) is a sequel to LSD (2010), an anthology of films directed by Dibaker Banerjee. It is one of the only few films that has a trans actor playing a trans character. Bonita Rajpurohit plays Kullu Vishwakarma, a young trans woman trying to survive in Mumbai. This is the closest we’ve come to a mainstream director casting and willing to show the harsh realities with a certain queer nuance without fetishising the trauma the trans community has to deal with. 

• The film is available to watch on Netflix by subscription. 

• 8/10, only for its nuanced portrayal, but -1 for hurting one’s emotional attachment to Kullu (why can’t we have happier stories?)

Curated by Gaysi Family | Illustration: Anjali Nair

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