Negotiating transgenic space in Hindi cinema: Exploring the narrative by revisiting Daayraa (1996) and Taali (2023)

Hindi Cinema has explored multiple stories and issues to be presented on the screen. From art movies to popular cinema, Bollywood has presented different shades of life in different ways. The narrative techniques and the way of storytelling remains an integral part of understanding how perceptions are and can be created. A number of movies, be it art movie or popular one, have presented the character of transgenders. What remains to be studied is how their approach towards the character builds a common narrative about the character in the society. The debate whether cinema influences the society or the society influences the story telling is an ongoing one. But there can be no denial to the fact that cinema has a deep influence on the Indian masses. There have been heated arguments and debates on idealising stalking and promoting it in the society. The image of the hero is often what the youngsters are blamed to be copying. In such a situation representation of transgenders and other communities becomes a sensitive issue. Topics like women empowerment, aids, homosexuality, live in relationships and many others often get a popular opinion based on the way they are presented on silver screen. With the OTT platform and digitalisation, the influence is vast spread with majority of the population getting access to multiple number of contents. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the content is sensible and represents a community in a way where the stereotyping is avoided. The paper examines two such contents; 1996 movie Dayeera & 2023 web series Taali, representing transgenders in a way where they are breaking the stereotypes. The paper also analysis the characterisation and other aspects associated with the representation of the transgenders in Hindi Cinema and the recent OTT platform.