‘Trans actors perform better where there is acceptance’

I assumed it would be a minuscule rolerdquo Bonita Rajpurohit says recalling her first reaction when she was signed for Dibakar Banerjeersquos latest film Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 She wasnrsquot prepared for what followedCast as one of the lead actors for Banerjeersquos spiritual sequel to the 2010 foundfootage drama of the same name she ldquodidnrsquot have any idea that I was playing one of the driving forces of the storyrdquo Rajpurohitrsquos surprise is only natural given that until LSD 2 Hindi films have never had a transgender actor in the lead role ldquoThe struggle to land a good enough part is so intense that with time you begin to lower your expectationsrdquo she shrugsLSD 2 may be an anomaly but one look at the recent history of Hindi cinema makes it clear that seeds of inclusivity are being slowly but steadily sown by courageous trans artistes sensitive casting directors and progressive filmmakersAnmol Ahuja Sushant Divgikr and Karan BoolaniJust last year actor Sushant Divgikr who also goes by their drag name Rani KoHENur made their big screen debut in the Bhumi Pednekarled comingoflife comedy Thank You For Coming A feat that took more than a decade to achieve ldquoI am the first transgender actor to be able to play a cishet man a drag queen and a preop trans person all in the same filmrdquo they say Times have indeed changed Who better than casting directors to attest to that Granted the responsibility to find actors that fit the filmmakerrsquos vision they are a crucial to affecting gender inclusivityldquoItrsquos become a need to cast appropriately todayrdquo shares casting director Anmol Ahuja who worked on LSD 2 ldquoFor a story to be truthfully depicted on screen one needs to have the right actors conveying it Hence the need to cast right has come into the forefrontrdquoCasting director Shruti Mahajan who has helped cast transgender characters for almost a decade agrees that the demand from filmmakers to include them in a project is more pressing than ever before ldquoThings have changed drasticallyrdquo she says ldquoThe first time I cast a transgender actor was during Akira starring Sonakshi Sinha This was way back in 2015 It was tougher We didnrsquot have a pool of trans actors at that time The director was very clear that he wanted to cast someone from the community for the transgender character Thatrsquos when I realised the kind of struggles the trans community faces For trans people to come out was a huge challenge From there to Bombay Begums therersquos been a huge shiftrdquo says Mahajan who cast transgender actor Ivanka Das in Netflixrsquos 2021 show Bombay Begums created by Alankrita Shrivastava Later she also cast Das in the 2023 sports drama Ghoomer headlined by Saiyami Kher and Abhishek BachchanShruti Mahajan casting directorRajpurohit recalls the times when the script only perpetrated stereotypes about transgender people ldquoI have been told I am not good enough for the rolerdquo she says ldquoSometimes not woman enough sometimes not man enough and at times not even trans enoughrdquoMahajan echoes that there used to be a tendency to typecast ldquoSome of them choose to only focus on struggle and pain when it comes to casting for a trans characterrdquo she says ldquoTheir ideas of masculinity and femininity are also extremerdquoSo what are casting directors like Mahajan and Ahuja doing differently to make the audition process safe and inclusive First and foremost incorporating an inclusive language says Ahuja cofounder of casting agency Casting Bay ldquoWhile working on LSD 2 my team and I ensured we used the right pronouns The idea is to make sure they are comfortable while we look for the right talent We also make sure to stretch our preconceived notions as far away as possible from stereotypes because at the end of it we are casting a character not an actor And if someone fits the character they fitrdquoAccess to opportunities is equally important Mahajan says ldquoTherersquos a reason we donrsquot go through coordinatorsrdquo she says ldquoOur social media has all the updates so that actors of every community have direct access to the team I also conduct workshops with trans actors In fact workshops and acting classes have become far more gender inclusive nowrdquoCreating a level field for marginalised artistes also includes establishing a space that enables them to grab the opportunities in front of them ldquoWhile auditioning for Bombay Begumsrdquo Mahajan says we noticed that transgender actors who had been exposed to camera more often and already found societal acceptance were able to deliver better than the ones who were still struggling for acceptance So as a team we made a conscious decision to not have many actors on a particular day of auditions unlike regular casting calls so that we could spend more time with them give them a safe space and confidence and make them feel that they are a part of the industry We tried to assure them that nobody was judging them Sensitivity is very important because when you provide a comforting environment their performance is far better because they donrsquot feel judgedrdquo The Me Too movement in 2017 cataylzed Mahajanrsquos decision to revamp the audition process Ever since she has set down certain guidelines for her team to follow while auditioning transgender actors ldquoPost the Me Too movement we realised that this safety of actors needed to be addressed in the most serious mannerrdquo she saysldquoAlso I donrsquot have a big team When you work with a smaller team with likeminded people itrsquos easy to have a sensitive system in placerdquo One of the practices is to pair auditioning transgender actors with actors who have worked with trans artists before to perform the scene ldquoThat establishes comfort and a safety netrdquo she saysNo amount of workshops however can prepare an actor for what unfolds on a set which is a chaotic unstructured and uncontained work space of more than 200 people And this is amplified for transgender actors who are prone to heavy scrutiny owing to their gender identity The person they look towards for direction and safety is the captain of the ship who sets the tone on the set For Karan Boolani the decision to cast a transgender actor in his directorial debut Thank You For Coming was deemed a risk but he decided to listen to the story requirement not the outside noise ldquoWe made a mainstream film about a girl in search of her first orgasm and cast a transgender character in one of the lead rolesrdquo he says ldquoI donrsquot think it gets any riskier than that But we believed in the larger idea of the story and that our decisions were serving the story So that kept us confident going forwardrdquo he says The reason to cast Divgikr was simple ldquoAuthenticityrdquo he saysThe road to inclusive representation however is not one without difficult conversations Casting directors say they have to be mindful while rejecting transgender actors during auditions lest they are misjudged ldquoBecause they have gone through so much in liferdquo says Mahajan ldquoeven when you try and make things normal for them sometimes their levels of sensitivity are so high that they have trouble accepting what we are telling them Any form of rejection in their mind is taken as lsquoBecause I am transrsquo Thatrsquos a huge challenge that I face as casting director I donrsquot know how to find the correct words There are times when I have been misunderstoodrdquo But she is also against tokenism ldquoIf I present an actor who is not good at their job the audience will anyway not accept itrdquo she says ldquoIt will backfire Itrsquos a journey for both me and them transgender artistes But that doesnrsquot dilute my endeavour which is to cast more transgender actors also in cishet roles Slowly we will reach thererdquo