After essaying the role of a gay man in Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, Ayushmann Khurrana picked another sensitive subject to talk about the LGBTQ+ community. In his latest release, Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Ayushmann essays the role of a boy who falls in love with a trans woman (played by Vaani Kapoor). While the film’s makers are being lauded for addressing transphobia, some also feel that it lacks representation. Some netizens had also expressed their displeasure about the makers not casting a real trans woman for the role. Now, Ayushmann has also weighed in on the discussion.
In an exclusive interview with the Andhadhun star was asked about the criticism Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui drew from a section of netizens for casting a cisgender actress in the role of a trans woman. Ayushmann said, “In an ideal world, there should have been a representation for sure, but this is a great baby step towards that. Anything that happens in the future, there has to be trans representation, a trans actor playing a trans person in a film. And ideally, there should be a trans person sitting here, talking about trans people. That would be the right way to go about it.”
“It will happen. We cannot compare ourselves to the West. In the realm of commercial Hindi cinema, it’s a great step because we have come a long way from Maharani to Maanvi in 2021. So, I guess we have yet to evoke that empathy in people’s minds,” Ayushmann added.
The actor also said that there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to raise awareness about the trans community in our country. “In India, people don’t even know what it is, so we have that audience to cater to. This (Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui) is induction and I am sure in the future there will be a representation,” he said.
When asked about the mixed reactions to the film’s storyline and dialogues have received, Ayushmann said, “A transperson watching the film may feel that there are a lot of slurs and they will be slightly uncomfortable watching it, but it comes from the society. And how those slurs transform into empathy in the second half just shows the transformation of society as a whole and the protagonist, Manu’s character represents society.”
The actor said that it was of utmost importance for the team to get validation from the transgender community, which they have managed to get from screenwriter Gazal Dhaliwal, Miss Trans Global 2021 Shruti Sitara and others.
