Recommended movie about hijra, the third gender of India –
Movie : Naanu Avanalla Avalu
Director : B.S.Lingadevaru
Producer : Ravi R Garini
Cast : Sanchari Vijay
The trailers of B.S Lingadevaru’s Kannada movie ‘Naanu Avanalla Avalu’ starts off with the following potent dialogue:
“I am fed up of this dual life
If I die, I’d die as a woman”
The film traces the life of a boy named Madesh who struggles on a day-to-day basis with his desire to become a woman. The second scene in the trailer portrays the disappointment of Madesh’s father at the latter’s effeminate ways. His bitter castigation of his son’s behavior is depicted through the following dialogue:
“I dreamed that he’d be a son; there’s no sign of it”. The father goes on to say that he nurtured dreams that his son would beget him an heir (that is, give him a grandson), but laments that there are no signs of that either.
The film then traces Madesh’s bitter-sweet journey towards what he presumes would be womanhood i.e. joining the jamat, undergoing the Nirvan or emasculation, the subsequent mehndi ceremony and bonding with his hijra sisters. Madesh now rechristens himself ‘Vidya’ (meaning ‘Knowledge’). The movie, in fact, is said to be based on the autobiography of a real life transgender called ‘I am Vidya’’. Since Vidya is educated, she aspires to take up a respectable job instead of selling her body as a prostitute. She applies for one with a changed name and identity only to be told that the vacancy has been filled, thus portraying the bias of employers against transgendered people.