I’m a Researcher in Chennai. So, the idea of using film to raise awareness and educate is never far away. I was commissioned to write an article about South India’s transgenders or ‘hijras’. I approached the photojournalist Sindhu about including her entrancing photos of the Koovagam Festival. We were united by our determination to tell individual stories with originality, moving away from the often relentlessly depressing documentaries we’d seen before on the topic. A few chats later, the plan to make a documentary was hatched.
Needless to say, India’s estimated one million TGs undergo immense hardship on their journey to inhabit the body they feel they were born to live in. The festival offers a rare opportunity to escape, where ‘hijras’ can relax in a unique environment, free from judgement or mockery.
The Koothandavar Festival, in Koovagam, Tamilnadu is an important part of ‘hijra’ history. Each April, thousands of ‘hijras’ visit this tiny hamlet to dance, sing, socialise and re-enact this extraordinary tale of love and grief:
On the eve of battle, the warlord Aravaan prepared himself. He was ready to die in combat but before he did so, he wanted to be married. Who would agree to being a wife for only one night? Lord Krishna, on hearing this, transformed himself into the beautiful Mohini and fulfilled Aravaan’s wishes. The battle dawned and Aravaan was killed. The last thing he saw was Krishna/Mohini standing on the side of the battlefield, wailing with grief.
The festival goers re-enact this display of widowhood by wearing white sarees, tearing their hair and sorrowfully breaking their bangles. It is a wonderfully evocative sight.
Sindhu has been to the Koothandavar Festival several times. In 2013, she wrote about it and was awarded a United Nations Population Fund Award for Gender Writing.
Our narrative arc is simple. We follow three characters in the months leading up to the festival and then travel with them on the train to Tamilnadu. The film culminates at the Koovagam Festival, against the backdrop of socially conservative India. We hope that this will make for an exciting, thought-provoking and visually arresting documentary.
There is no question that India’s transgender communities encounter daily brutality.
However, this is not going to be a ‘doom and gloom’ documentary that solely focuses on the negatives. We don’t want to make a Channel 5-style doc called something like: “Neither Man Nor Woman – Inside India’s Most Shameful Secret’. Of course, some of the stories that we have heard are incredibly sad but there are also tales of hope and strength which deserve equal attention.
We want to make a ‘hybrid documentary’. Here’s our interpretation of what this means:
Sometimes, real life can be limiting, so it’s our job to think up original ways to tell these stories in ways that challenge the audience without bashing them over the head with shocking, horrific tales.
So Divya has agreed to choreograph wonderfully constructed dance sequences with our characters, which we intend to splice within the film’s narrative.
We’re in discussions with an illustrator about using animation, to illustrate the back-stories of our characters.
We have been working with some brilliant local NGOs, including: the Humsafar Trust, Kinner Kastoori, Sangama, Sahodari. Plus, some inspirational individuals have given us their time, namely A. Revathi and the filmmaker and founder of the Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, Sridhar Rangayan.
