Super Deluxe receives flak for portrayal of transpersons

“After having a child with a woman, the character Shilpa easily identifies as a transgender. This is far from reality. The amount of duress a person goes through to identify as a different gender after marriage is enormous,” said Kalki Subramaniam, a transgender activist.

She pointed out that many people from the community were surprised that Vijay Sethupathi agreed to essay such a role, which they alleged was poorly researched, as he has been part of many events organised forthe community.

Sudha, a member of the Transgender Welfare Board, said, “In one scene, a policeman assumes that the transgender character Shilpa is into child trafficking, but such a depiction has no basis.” In contrast, she claimed, the community has a reputation of stopping sexual assault against children. It clearly shows the poor research that has gone into the character representing the transgender community, she alleged.

A minority community that is already shunned by the majority of the society would only be further alienated when films associate them with child trafficking, even indirectly, Sudha added.

“Even an openly villainous role could have been etched rather than linking transgenders to issues that they have never been associated with before. The number of problems like finding a house to rent, etc., only grow with such depictions,” said Sudha.