‘Thankfully, as Indians, we have a long history of trans people in our culture, in our religions, in our mythology.’
‘It’s not a fad which has suddenly come into existence, the way that a lot of Americans treat it.’
As a transgender and a doctor-turned-actor, Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju says she has experienced transformation “on a very intimate level”.
She relishes the idea of becoming a different person with each new character and considers this as the most “interesting part” of the acting process.
If Made In Heaven 2 got her through the door, Trinetra is now building on her acting portfolio with Kankhajura, her latest OTT show co-starring Roshan Mathew and Mohit Raina.
“I have seen people being insensitive, ignorant, uneducated and uninterested about the topic. Thankfully, nothing extremely bad has happened, but there is a certain apathy that many people have towards the community. How many people really care about these things?” Trinetra asks Mayur Sanap/Rediff.
What’s keeping you busy these days?
The promotions of Kankhajura.
Apart from that, many other things.
I am trying to focus on my physical fitness. That’s something that I’ve neglected for very long.
I finally started going to the gym.
I finally got a nutritionist on board, and we’re trying to figure out how to make me healthy.
It’s funny that we, as MBBS students and doctors, have advice to give everybody but our own personal lives are an absolute mess.
Besides this, there’s been a lot of reading, traveling and spending time with family.
IMAGE: Trinetra in Kankhajura.
What are you playing in Kankhajura?
I play Amy, a Goan girl.
She used to be called Amey when she was growing up, but now she is Amy.
Ashu (Roshan Mathew’s character) and Amey were friends as children, but now when he’s come out of prison, Ashu is getting to meet his long lost friend who is now Amy.
The show is about Ashu who uses his way of manipulations to get what he wants and gets trapped in that.
Their track adds a romantic angle, but it involves using somebody in an emotional way.
How do you look at your transformation from a medical professional to an actor?
When I first started auditioning in 2021, it was very new to me.
I remember being on the set of Made in Heaven and feeling lost.
After that, I did this beautiful workshop with (acting coach) Atul Mongia.
I did some work with Puja Sarup and Sheena Khalid, amazing theatre actors.
I also did this amazing workshop with Helena Walsh.
I feel like the process of learning my craft started with that.
By the time Kankhajura came my way, I was far more prepared than I was during Made In Heaven.
The most interesting part about acting is that you get to step away from yourself and inhabit somebody else.
Being a trans person, I have experienced transformation on a very intimate level.
The greatest joy for me is this transformation, both personally and professionally.Â
IMAGE: (Left to right) Shivani Raghuvanshi, Arjun Mathur, Mona Singh, Shashank Arora, Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju and Sobhita Dhulipala in Made In Heaven 2.
Did the praise for your role in Made in Heaven translate into more work opportunities?
I was sceptical.
The thing is I have seen how trans representation has played out in different countries because I have trans actor friends in the States and the UK.
They’re a little ahead of us, in the sense, this wave of representation has already happened there.
But all of them said the same thing, that when we did our one or two shows, we thought the entire industry had changed. But it’s not true.
I felt the exact same way.
Made In Heaven came out and got a lot of praise. A lot of filmmakers and actors said wonderful things.
But I’ll tell you what happened after that.
Bollywood went into a strange period of recession, which is continuing to this day. A lot of filmmakers are suddenly unsure about what is working at the box office.
As a result, a lot of makers are doing formulaic work. Unfortunately, even OTT is becoming a little Bollywood-ised in that sense.
After Made In Heaven, I didn’t expect magic to happen overnight but I do see change happen in small but significant ways.
There are certain filmmakers who are really committed to telling stories that are impactful and beyond your basic formula.
Kiran Rao has done a Laapataa Ladies without any A-lister actor.
Zoya (Akhtar) is doing incredible work.
Superboys of Malegaon is an incredible film that Reema Kagti directed.
So while we’re creating a film like Animal, we’re also making All We Imagine As Light.
Interesting work is happening but it’s all scattered. I think everyone is confused because nobody knows what is working anymore.
As a trans actor, it’s an interesting time to stick around and see who is committed to telling honest stories.
How do you look at the representation of the trans community in the current scenario of Bollywood?
We talk about Bollywood as if it’s this singular entity, but it’s really not.
It’s a collection of multiple groups of people, families and businesses, right?
If we look at acceptance and what LGBTQ inclusion looks like, it’s going to be very different from one group of people to another.
It’s not like I have only seen great experiences just because I started with Made In Heaven.
I’ve had bad experiences also.
I have seen people being insensitive, ignorant, uneducated and uninterested about the topic.
Thankfully, nothing extremely bad has happened, but there is a certain apathy that many people have towards the community.
How many people really care about these things?
Only when something trends on social media does it become something we want to talk about.
The most important thing is not even representation because we have had representation of trans characters for a long time. It’s just that we’ve not had good representation.
It’s always been a man or even woman playing the character. But that doesn’t necessarily make a good movie or show.
This is beyond just basic inclusion and representation. There has to be a good story and a good character. That’s what I’m interested in.
Who do you consider as your friends in the industry?
One of my closest friends in the industry is Gazal Dhaliwal.
She’s a trans writer, who’s been in this industry for a very long time. She’s responsible for some incredible projects like Lipstick Under My Burkha and Mismatched.
She is my biggest inspiration and my biggest supporter.
I first watched her on an episode of Satyamev Jayate many years ago.
There was one episode on gender and sexuality and Gazal was part of that.
I was just 12 or 13 years old when I showed that episode to my parents. That was their first exposure to seeing a trans woman, who was actually in the industry.
She had hardships but also the support of her parents.
She was the first person who inspired me to transition and become myself.
While efforts are being made to integrate trans individuals in all aspects of the society, we also have someone as influential and powerful as Donald Trump running an anti-trans campaign in the US. Do you think it adds to fear-mongering against the trans community?
Yes, absolutely. As a country, we are better off when it comes to trans rights.
We’ve had the NALSA (National Legal Services Authority) judgment.
We’ve got the Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Act, which gives trans people a fair number of rights.
I’m not saying that we are perfect as a legal system and for the rights that we as trans individuals need and the welfare schemes that we need. There’s a long way to go on that front.
But I’m just glad that we don’t have a political lobby against us, trying actively to take away our rights.
This is something that’s unfortunately happening globally, in the UK and the US.
It’s a really bad time for say, abortion rights, which is very concerning for me as a doctor as well because you could get into trouble for normal medical practices.
It’s terrifying that on a global level, trans people are being targeted so specifically by people who don’t have the information or are using disinformation as a way of fear-mongering. That’s the easiest thing to do politically to gain votes, right?
Vote banks are built on the unfounded fears of large groups of people. All you have to do is to stoke the embers to get people scared of something. Unfortunately, trans people fall in that category of people where it’s very easy to fear-monger around.
Thankfully, as Indians, we have a long history of trans people in our culture, in our religions, in our mythology.
It’s not a fad which has suddenly come into existence, the way that a lot of Americans treat it.
Even if we don’t have complete integration, acceptance and opportunity, at least there is awareness.
We have a concept of Tritiya Prakriti and Ardhanarishwar.
I am grateful that I’m Indian.
But I would say that it’s also on us as trans people, who have some degree of privilege and education to use our privilege and do as much as we can.
As an actor, my responsibility is to increase representation of trans people in popular culture because entertainment is a part of everybody’s life.
My purpose in life is to normalise conversations around trans people so that it doesn’t become such a big deal for trans people to have basic rights.
What makes you feel proudest about your journey so far?
It is to see queer and trans people reaching out to me on social media and saying thank you for putting our journey out there.
I think every queer individual needs to see another succeed in some way. That gives you a lot of confidence and motivation to move forward in your life and do your thing.
When parents of queer people or queer children or queer adolescents reach out and express that gratitude, it really makes me feel like I’ve done something legitimate.
I know some of them closely but I will never know the full impact of that. It is something that we will only know in retrospect, maybe 50 years from now.
