India's 1st Best Trans Model Agency

I grew up travelling the world. I was home-schooled on various merchant navy ships during my childhood, but I always returned home to Delhi. As a child, I had seen Hijras walking around the neighbourhood in groups. They were always dressed in bright traditional dresses, drums in hand. Despite openly challenging heteronormative gender roles and appearing so visibly on the streets, to me, they were always shrouded in mystery. None of my friends or family had ever personally known a Hijra.

My last face-to-face encounter with a Hijra was 25 years ago when my sister was born and a group of Hijras barged into our home to bless her. I remember staring at them with horrified fascination as they danced with my baby sister, making lewd jokes and blessing her. I learnt that almost everyone in Delhi was blessed in a similar fashion by Hijras, including me. Since then, I had only seen them at traffic lights where they knock on windows offering blessings in exchange for a few coins.

I have been living and working in the UK for many years, making high profile current affairs, social justice, and human rights documentaries. I’m a proud supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and support the easing of gender re-recognition in the UK; I have trans friends and have personally witnessed the effects of gender dysphoria.

After the landmark High Court ruling in 2014 recognising a third gender in India, I believed that this was a watershed moment in the history of trans rights globally and a seismic change for this community that had for so long existed on the fringes of our society. I went back to Delhi the following year and, as had happened in the past, I found myself face to face with Hijras when I was stopped at a traffic light in my car. This time, I wanted to know more…

I set up a meeting with Rudrani Chettri, a trans activist whom I had seen jubilantly celebrating the court verdict and speaking to the media with determined optimism. In Rudrani I discovered a strong, striking, and confident woman. We formed an instant connection, and I was inspired by the immense pride she took in the work of her charity, the Mitr Trust. That day, I met more trans-Hijras than I ever had. They were warm and welcoming and wanted to share their stories with me. I learnt that many of them earned money by giving blessings on festive occasions, whilst others did sex work and begged. Most of them were separated from their biological family and called each other their Hijra sisters. I remember meeting a teenager, Deepika; bright lipstick smeared on her lips, she smiled effusively and danced with incredibly grace. Her family had just told her she must either live as a man at home, or leave the family and join the Hijra community. It felt like an impossible choice.

Rudrani led me through brothels filled with transgender women who joyfully applied make-up to each other before heading out to the streets to sell their bodies, and then invited me to follow a Hijra group whilst they combed the streets looking for new-born babies to bless. Before I knew it, I was filming them as they shared their deeply personal stories, many of them tragic and painful. I was beginning to form a strong bond with Rudrani and the community welcomed me warmly. They took comfort in the fact that although I spoke their language (Hindi), I wasn’t coloured by the cultural perception of a Hijra. They wanted me to see their reality and understand their world.

Inspired by the change in law and the enthusiasm of her community, Rudrani decided to take the plunge and follow her dream of setting up India’s first transgender modelling agency. Rudrani and her community wanted so much to be seen and celebrated for who they are, and I found myself compelled to follow their journey. For the next 7 years, I filmed the universal human experiences of love, relationships, family, and survival within this community – as well as the incredible story of the modelling agency. Camera in hand, I became a confidante to my protagonists, as their shared their lives with extraordinary intimacy and candour.

This developed into an authored documentary in the style of participatory verité. I have known and lived with my characters for 7 years. We have fought together, laughed together and cried together. I am a part of their lives and they are a part of mine. Although they are the protagonists, this is OUR story.

'India’s 1st Best Trans Model Agency' has opened me up to an exquisite world that was once a mystery to me; a world where beautiful vibrant hope is juxtaposed with the harsh reality of daily life. Filming in Delhi, I saw in front of me the worlds of Wong Kar-Wai and Mira Nair. I tell this timely and contemporary story through powerful visual imagery and emotive storytelling. I hope that audiences everywhere are moved by the journeys of these incredible individuals.