Lives on the Fringes

Despite a few refreshing narratives, most of Indian mainstream cinema still struggles to portray transgender people with all their human complexities and contradictions

- Basav Biradar

THE portrayal of transgender people in cinema can be analysed from three perspectives: as a representation of the community’s lived personal and social experiences; the specificities of physiological representation; and finally from the perspective of politics of representation. While the conversation around this subject has matured considerably across Hollywood and European cinema, Indian cinema, especially the mainstream genre, continues to have a tenuous and tension-filled relationship with the complexities of identity and sexuality of the transgender community.