‘Idaiyinam’ , new app for transgender documentary launched

Priya Babu, a transgender runs ‘Transgender Resource Centre’ in Madurai. Presently, she is in the process of making a new documentary movie on the history of transgenders. The movie has been named ‘Idaiyinam’ by her.

The app too is named after the documentary movie ‘Idaiyinam’ and has complete details and contact details of ‘Transgender Resource Centre’. It has links to various videos on transgenders and seeks help from like-minded people for the movie.

Priya Babu says that she and her team have been working on the documentary for over four years. They have been meticulously collecting various documents and ancient scripts that have mentions about transgenders. They have also collected photographs of various paintings and sculptures which carry mentions of transgenders to be shown in the movie.

Priya says that there is a mention about transgenders in ‘Tholkappiyam’ where the transgenders were mentioned as ‘Pedi’.

Similarly, there is a lot of reference to transgenders in Silpathikaram and other Tamil novels too.

However, there is no separate history recorded for transgenders. On most occasions, there were just passing references.

She has decided to work on the movie to document their history. She has planned to launch the poster for the documentary before Deepavali. By November or December first week the promo of the movie will be launched, she said.

“I will begin my work on the movie from December and I hope to finish it before March end. But, paucity of funds is a deterrent. Apart from money, she also needs technical support, equipment support and even support for residence for their team members. For instance, people with camera and good editing skills can help them in movie making, notes Priya Babu.

“Those who are interested in helping me, can contact me thought the app. It has all my details. I hope to garner as much help as possible through it,” remarks Priya Babu.