The teaser of Taali, which was recently unveiled, has won Sushmita Sen heaps of praises for her portrayal of transgender activist, Shreegauri Sawant. Based on the latter’s life, the web series chronicles Shreegauri’s daring transformation, incredible motherhood and iconic battle that led to the inclusion of the third gender on every official document in India. However, Sushmita reveals that she was immensely trolled when the first look of her from the series was unveiled.
In an exclusive chat with News18, she candidly shares, “The first poster of Taali that I had released had half my face and the clap. I remember that in the comment section, there were lots of nameless people as social media is full of, writing ‘chhakka’ repeatedly. I thought, how can they do that to me?”
The episode not only impacted her emotionally but also led her to gauge the negativity and backlash the transgender community face on a daily basis. “I took it very personally because it was happening on my timeline. I, of course, blocked all of them. But it hit me that if that’s how it’s making me feel when I’m only portraying Gauri Sawant’s life, they’re living with it every breathing moment of their life,” she says.
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It also made Sushmita grateful about her own life and helped her realise that she can be a channel to neutralise the hate and alter the narrative. “I thanked my stars that I had this opportunity to change this somehow. The only thing that god has given me and blessed my life with are people who love me with all their heart. I know this and I’ve known this for three decades now. I thought that if I can be a medium through which the love that people have for me can be passed on to a community that has longed and ached for it, they deserve to be have it,” she states.
The former Miss Universe further adds, “It’s already so late for us to wake up and recognise that beyond all the gender biases and identification through a gender, these are human beings. And that sense of inclusiveness and acknowledgement that they’re human beings is my attempt in Taali.”
With Taali, Sushmita also intends to bring out a hidden side of Shreegauri that the world is unaware of. Lauding Shreegauri’s spirit, she remarks, “Gauri Sawant comes across as a person who’s very strong, articulate and no-nonsense which she is but there’s also a vulnerable side to her, a side to her she protects from the world. In Taali, I’ve shown that side. I want everyone to see who Gauri Sawant really is.”
The 47-year-old further asserts that a larger view on Shreegauri’s life can help change the mind-sets. And for this, she thanks her co-actors too. “I was surrounded by some of the finest actors that you can have for a sensitive film and storytelling like this. Lot of them are from the Marathi film industry. All of them are epic. I got to reunite with Ankur (Bhatia) after Aarya. He’s my man! I’m so proud of him. He plays a gay character. Each one of us have tried to showcase Gauri’s inner world which is made of people the outer world don’t really know. We’ve tried to bring all of them to life,” she tells us.
Taali is all set to start streaming on JioCinema from August 15.
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