Real-life transgender roped in for Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings

Failing to rope in a top star for his film, a tribute to the late filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh, Ram Kamal Mukherjee decided to cast a real-life transgender to play one in Season's Greetings.

"It was difficult to cast either a male or a female actor from Bollywood or the Bengali film industry to play a transgender in the film. Most actors have inhibitions in portraying a role that's not gender specific. Eventually, we had to cast real-life transgender Shree Ghatak as Chapala. I wanted someone who would believe in the character, and play it with great poise."

Talking about her character, Ghatak says, "Ram Kamal knew exactly what he wanted from me. He was sure about my make-up, hair and costume and was certain of the look that would be apt. Mostly, Bollywood has dealt with transgender characters as caricatures. But, when I heard the story, I had tears."

Ghatak shares screen time with Lillete Dubey and Celina Jaitly in the film.

Also Read: Celina Jaitly: Felt comfortable with an intimacy supervisor on set

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