FAQ

In India, the concept of men dressing up and performing as women has been prevalent from ancient times and these men were treated with dignity and respect. Earlier Indian films had men performing as women because women were not allowed to act in films. That was more of a necessity.

But later, it was more for fun - most of the top Bollywood stars have been in drag! Right from the 60s chocolate hero- Bishwajeet (in the song 'Reshmi Salwar Kurta Jaali ka' from Kismat) and 70s chocolate boy Rishi Kapoor (in Rafoo Chakkar along with Paintal) to 90s chocolate boy- Amair Khan (in Baazi) and Kamal Hassan (in Chachi 420), and not to forget, even star of the millennium- Amitabh Bachhan (in the song 'Mere Agane mein' from Lawaris)... most of the Bollywood heroes have performed in drag.

But in recent times, in Bollywood, the concept of drag has been reduced to a caricature - mainly for dramatic convenience or for crude comedy.

Mercifully there have been a couple of poignant portrayals too...not of drag queens, but of Hijras (Paresh Rawal in Tamanna and Sayyaji Shinde in Darmiyaan). Only one true drag queen stands out - Sadashiv Amrapurkar as a villian in Sadak.

But this film 'Gulabi Aaina' is the first film about that is truly centered around Indian drag queens, where the main protogonists are drag queens and the entire story revolves around them. Also for the first time the film addresses their sexual orientation and deals with it in a sensitive manner.

Director Sridhar Rangayan writes in his site in his director's note-

"Homosexuality is still taboo in India and is criminalized. Mainstream Indian cinema has always caricaturized gay characters and ridiculed them. There has hardly been any film that sensitively talked about the Indian gay community that is quite large, but closeted. Of late there have been a few films in English that peeps into the closet, but they speak a language that is alien.

Our film, which is the first film on drag queens in Hindi (the Indian national language), is an attempt to discover the world of drag queens. A film that speaks their own language and portray emotions that have been long buried and shunned by society. A film that is a 'celebration of their lives' - with no apologies and no sermonizing. Also, a film that the queens themselves would enjoy as their own film. Of course I also want it to be acceptable to a wider diaspora. It was a fine-line. I wanted them to laugh with the characters, not laugh at them."