JOIN USMovie on transgenders moves audience
Lingadevaru, the director of the award-winning movie ‘Naanu Avanalla, Avalu’, has his own reservations about his movie becoming a catalyst and changing the mindset of the society about transgenders.
Speaking to mediapersons post-screening of the movie, the director said that he would only be a channel to expose the evils of the society. He just ‘wanted to show what he wanted to show, and the rest was upon the viewers’.
He added that he was not confident that his movie would be instrumental in eradicating the social taboos that exist against transgenders since time immemorial.
The director said that he was inspired by the life story of transgender Vidya and her book ‘Living Smile Vidya’. He said he wanted to highlight the issue.
Lingadevaru also said that the experiment that he conducted in Udupi to reach out to the people through social media was effective, and felt that social media could be a good option to promote art movies.
He involved nearly 85 transgenders for his movie. He added that he was currently working on nothing, but would prefer embarking upon a script that he found sensitive and socially oriented. The people should change their mindset on transgenders, he appealed.
Transgender Nagma said that she has experienced all the problems that are shown in the movie. “The movie exhibits all the difficulties encountered by any transgender. The family abandons, so does the society. The government should ensure a decent livelihood to the transgender so that the latter are saved from involved in begging and flesh trade,” said Nagma.
Kajal said that a transgender deserves respect and is no different from any other human being.
Reservation
The audience who gathered said that the film was an eye-opener. “It is indeed a film worth watching, and makes one realise the existence of orthodox beliefs and practices in society that ruins the life of a transgender. The film throws light on the actualities and indirectly reminds one of the responsibility of social stake-holders in treating all sections of society impartially,” the audience said.
They concurred that transgenders should not be denied social justice. A decent life is their right, said the audience, also demanding reservation for transgenders.
The director, however, expressed disappointment that, although the Supreme Court has given instruction regarding reservation, the concerned governing bodies have sidelined the instructions. “The reservation is only on paper, not in practice,” he lamented.