Gauri Sawant on Sushmita ASen’s role in Taali: Why should a trans actor play a transgender?

For transgender activist Gauri Sawant, seeing Sushmita Sen bring her story to life on screen with Taali is a huge victory for the entire community, and she doesn’t want to worry about the rumours about someone from the community getting the job.Sen took to Instagram earlier this week to share the first look at her forthcoming web project, Taali. Along with positive responses, the first look sparked a social media debate about transgender actors not being recognised for such roles.First and foremost, I want to emphasise that the project will feature several transgender actors who were chosen after a rigorous audition process. I’m also involved in the project, though not as an actor. So, it is not just that Sushmita is the only one acting in the project,u201d Sawant says.Most of us in the community wished to be women, so we chose to wear a saree, she continues. It is now a sign of respect to us that an actress is portraying the role, rather than a male actor, as we have seen in the past.According to Sawant, seeing a woman bring the peculiarities of a transgender person rather than a male is a triumph for the community.u201cMy guru, who is 73-year-old, ne khudh bola ke jab Sadashiv Amrapurkar ne role kiya Sadak mein, thodha acha laga, but kabhi nahi socha tha ke ek aurat bhi yeh role karegi,u201d she tells, disclosing that Sen did work with her exhaustively to get the persona correct.What are your thoughts on this? Comment below.