Old Drag, New Twist

How an American reality show is jazzing up the act of Indian drag queens.

- Sneha Bhura

Alex Mathew, 29, is yet to clip on his fake black eye-lashes. His friend gives his eyelids a dash of glitter. Tonight, he will be donning the avatar of Maya Sa from Padmavat at KittySu, the nightclub at The LaLit Hotel in New Delhi. In the course of this elaborate make-up session, in one of LaLit’s lavish rooms, Mathew talks about drag culture and his own evolution as a drag performer since 2014. In a brightly lit room, he prepares to share the stage with celebrated American drag queen Willam Belli.

What does it take to be a drag queen? A love for impersonating women, a facility for no-holds barred make-up, the ability to carry fantastical costumes in vertiginous heels, and the most unbreakable kind of confidence. A drag queen is a male performer who is loud in his celebration of femininity, without caricaturing it. “A drag queen does not make fun of women,” says Mathew, referencing acts on TV shows like The Kapil Sharma Show. Neither is it cross-dressing. A drag performer can be 100 per cent straight, though they are regularly mistaken as gay or a transgender person. It is entertainment that is meant to bewilder, titillate and overwhelm with its exaggerated dance, drama and fashion. “Drag does not have anything to do with sexuality. Sexuality is who I am, and drag is what I do,” says Mathew.