Cinema Should Represent Transgender Persons As They Are: Director Sudha Kongara

In her latest short for Netflix Tamil anthology "Paava Kadhaigal", Kongara places a transgender person in the centre of a confli💎ct to chronicle the story of g💝uilt, shame, acceptance and love.

In an interview with PTI over Zoom, the director said throu💛gh the short ''Thangam'', she came closer to understan🐼ding the community.

"Cinema should represent them as they are. Represent reacti𝕴ons to them as ꧟they are, give solution if you can. These are the only ways you can change the perception about a transgender. I' 've had stereotypical representations and studies of transgenders affect me.

"I've been scared of transgenders. I've not been open to their emotions, open to what they are and how they are till I did this filmꦓ," she said.

Kongara said her journey of six⛦-eight months making the film with people from the community, opened her eyes to a world she was unaware of.

The "Saala Khadoos" dir⭕ector said she had 10-15 transgender people on set, who she would conﷺsult and turn to for advice.

&q🧜uot;They were there to help me make this film. To tell me to represent them correctly. 'Please don't a mockery of us.' I've tried to be as true as I can to their feelings and at every stage involved them, consciously.

"I've asked for their apℱproval, it meant the world to me. To me, the film doesn't matter to me as much as them approving my film and saying that I have said what they have felt. I take that as my greatest complim🃏ent," she added.

Written by Shan Karuppusamy, the 1980s-set short stars Kalid🦋as Jayaram, Shanthnu Bhagyaraj and Bhavani Sre.

Predominantly a love story, ''Thangam'' aims to put spotlight on transphobia aꦯnd narrates the horrors a transgender person goes through to find acceptance.

Kongara, 48, said she is pained that there isn't 𓆏any significant change in the way the community is treated in the society even today.

"I don't see any big change. I don't see their representation in lifeꦕ around us. I don't se💖e that they have got their rights in place, any kind of acceptance in society.

"I see systemic violence against them -- physical, mental and psychological. It is the worst kind of violence that anyone can inflict on another huꦜman, that's what the society is doing on them."

The film features Jayaram as Sathaar, a transgender secretly iꦐn love with his childhood best friend Saravanan🐲 (Bhagyaraj).

The director said she initially wanted to cast a transgender person for the role but was strapped for time as she was juggling both, "Thangam" and her f😼eature film "Soorarai Pottru", the Suriya-starrer which released last month on Amazon Prime Video.

"My deadline for both was March 31, 2020. We were going hammer and tonꦏgs to find a trans person to play the role. I just didn't get a person," she said.

Kongara had approached two actors to play Sathaar, but even that didn't work out. One wasn't comfortable playing a transgender🍷 pe𓄧rson while the other was busy shooting a film, she said.

She then approached Jayaram "reluctantly" as the actor had go🥃ne to Am♏erica with no intention of continuing to act.

But when he heard the script, Jayaram was eager to be part of the shor🅘t.

"This required at least three months to get into the character🧸 but I didn't have anyone else. But he was really affected with the part and wanted to play it. We had transgenders on set, they interacted with Kalidas, he spen🍃t several days talking to them about their lives, livelihood, and problems.

"ꦛHe understood what makes them react the way they do and brought those reactions out. When he came on set, people were astounded by his transformation. It wasn't easy... For the most part, Kali became like a trans person to be able to feel, which is why he wasn't hitting any false note," she added.

"Paava Kadhaigal" is sch🍷eduled to be released on Friday.