Pride Month: Five notable Tamil projects that portrayed lead actors as trans woman

It looks like Tamil filmmakers are gradually moving away from stereotyping transgender characters in films. Here is a list of a few notable projects in which popular actors played a transgender person.

Prakash Raj in Appu
Prakash Raj played Maharani, who runs a brothel in Mumbai. His was one of the most noticeable roles as a transgender in the Tamil film industry and Prakash Raj's performance had won him accolades. However, as sensitization and awareness about  transgender social inclusion and equality began to rise, Prakash Raj's transgender role being stereotyped as a sex worker didn't go down well in the annals of cinema history. Appu was directed by Vasanth and was a remake of the hit Hindi film, Sadak.

Sarathkumar in Kanchana
Sarathkumar's Kanchana was a refreshing character in Muni 2: Kanchana as the film showed the transgender character in a positive light. Here, Kanchana slogs to make the dream of her adopted child Geetha come true and successfully makes her a daughter. Despite the horror story, the actor won critical acclaim for his earnest portrayal of Kanchana.

Vijay Sethupathi in Super Deluxe
Vijay Sethupathi surprised everyone when he played trans woman Shilpa (earlier  Manickam) in Thiagarajan Kumararaja's Super Deluxe. As Shilpa, he expresses his hidden insecurities and his character became a huge takeaway for many. Sethupathi had also stated that this was a character that he had always wanted to do and that the script touched him in a big way.

Paava Kadhaigal
Sathaar of Thangam in the anthology Paava Kathaigal (2020) is yet another character that shot to limelight. Thangam is about trans woman Sathaar (Kalidas Jayaram) who goes to the end of the earth to protect the world from the one person he loves. One of the groundbreaking scenes in the anthology was how Sathaar shows his appreciation to Saravanan (Shanthnu Bhagyaraj).

Vikram in Iru Mugan
Not one to shy away from challenges, Vikram played a negative role in Iru Mugan as trans woman Love, who is a rogue scientist responsible for a drug called Speed, which was used by Hitler during World War 2 to transform human beings into superhumans. Though Vikram worked hard for the character, it didn't majorly strike a chord among the audience.