From Gender Trouble to Turned Tables: Examining Trans-visibility in Indian Cinema

The study draws upon various theoretical and methodological approaches to analyse the metamorphosis of Indian cinema, which has undergone tremendous transformations in representing transgender people with the advent of neoliberalism and the subsequent political–economic scenario. The study also intends to discuss the role of governmental policies in influencing the Indian cinema ecosystem in this regard. Against this backdrop, it attempts to unearth the gradual power shift in the portrayal of transgender characters in the Indian Cinemascape, who were once treated as comic symbols catering to the interest of ruling elites but have emerged as autonomous, powerful characters and are no longer aligned with normative standards. As a part of its analysis, the study also aims to deconstruct ‘costume’ as a significant ‘signifier’ of discrimination against the third gender. While being an interdisciplinary critique of the discriminatory representation of transgender characters, the study, in three parts, attempts to investigate and analyse Indian cinema from the 1990s to 2023 with the motif to: (a) explore the evolution of culture (as an industry)-gender interrelationships, (b) trace changed narratives, concerning transgender characters, in mainstream culture, and (c) unearth the influence of neoliberalism on artistry and culture industry promoting market-oriented approaches.