Why Dorothy is a moment of joy for the queer community: Chennai LGBTQIA+ activists comment
(this article may contain spoilers for Dorothy)
“It’s not like stepping up, it’s like stepping on an escalator.” This is how Jaya, a trans activist and general manager of Sahodaran, an NGO working for the upliftment of LGBTQIA+ people, describes how Tamil filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj’s latest sensation, Dorothy, feels to the queer community.
In theaters on September 25, Dorothy tells the sensitive story of a trans woman who comes into her own and, as a bonus, finds love. The film received rave reviews and mainly appreciation from many people in the community who have longed for decades for Tamil cinema to open its arms and embrace them.
Actor and writer Negha Shahin is over the moon. “We finally got a movie that looks deeply into trans life. I was surprised how cisgender heteronormative people were connected to the movie.” The emotion is palpable when Marakkah, a teacher, poet, theater artist and founder of the Chennai Queer Library, says she saw herself in Dorothy. “All my old memories came back. I couldn’t stop crying for the last 30 minutes,” she says.
Malini Jeevarathnam, an actor, filmmaker and activist, found Dorothy to be a profound and well-crafted film. “It’s a raw, real story about what’s happening next door in our cities. I liked how they didn’t compromise authenticity for aesthetic quality,” they say.
Marakkah and Negha Shahin | Photo credit: Special arrangement
How Karthik’s story shed light on the prevalent social evil of honor killings targeting trans people seems to have touched everyone. “We have seen honor killings because of caste and religion and we are actually a society that killed babies. But Karthik has exposed something that people don’t want to talk about,” says Marakkah. Negha herself is a victim of domestic violence, “so I found that aspect of Dorothy to be very valid,” she says.
The film also shows that the titular Dorothy suffered from immense dysphoria before her gender reassignment – something that mainstream Tamil cinema hardly touched upon. “Most trans women like me might secretly indulge in feminine activities to feel the euphoria. But some others might not be able to do that. They might repress those feelings out of fear and follow the stereotypes their parents taught them. But that feeling eventually comes out of them, which Dorothy shows,” says Jaya, who also rejoices at how tenderly and tenderly Karthikia is showing herself post-transition. Everyone we spoke to seemed to believe that Karthik and his team put a lot of effort into researching trans lives. “Only then can someone show such feelings with so much life,” says Jaya.
Maestro Ilaiyaraaja composing music for the film feels like a big win for the community. “Many songs have humbled our lives, but until ‘Muthumani’, which was written by Raaja sir himself, there was no song that expressed our feelings well. The evolution of Tamil cinema from ‘Kokkarakozhi Koovura Velai’ to ‘Muthumani’ itself is something huge,” says Negha, while Marakkah remembers the hatred that Koozrakov took quite well. Velai.’ “Because of such representation, I deviated from Tamil cinema. But I still can’t get out of Dorothy. So after more than 40 years, Tamil cinema has moved to the next phase, I believe,” he says.
Jaya and Malini Jeevarathnam | Photo credit: Special arrangement
That said, the community is also witnessing all the queerphobia that has been spewed at them in recent weeks. “There is a common perception that Tamils have accepted trans people and that they see trans people as gods. So if these people react like that to a film like Dorothy, I wonder how they would react if it showed gays, lesbians and so on,” wonders Negha.
The film’s final shot, featuring a kiss between a cis man and a trans woman, garnered particularly vile, inhuman comments online. “They say it’s two men kissing, which is very transphobic,” says Negha. Jay finds it strange that people confuse the film’s queer identity with homosexuality. She wonders what’s so grotesque about a kiss when cis-men have always sexualized trans women. “There are many transsexuals; who is having sex with them now? People should understand that trans people have their own romantic and sexual desires and dreams of a future with their loved one. And the way Dorothy talks about that is beautiful.” Malini says that embracing trans identity but refusing to embrace trans romance comes from the wrong political lens. “It’s like they’re giving consent out of pity, but nobody needs that. If you accept me, accept who I am, who I love, and how I live.”
Marakkah wonders why many believe that Dorothy will “influence people in the wrong way”, a queerphobic idea often used to target queerness. “It would make people see queer people from a different perspective. This film will not affect a cis woman or a cis man, but it will give confidence, courage, validation and healing to those who carry that feeling.” She also wonders why it is hard for some to empathize with gender dysphoria, when in fact dysphoria exists to some degree in all human beings. “Even men who cannot grow beards for any number of reasons, such as their genes, have dysphoria.”
Sananth and Rishikanth in a still from ‘Dorothy’ | Photo credit: Special arrangement
Now, while we feel delighted to see Dorothy, it may not be a smooth experience for trans women trying to catch the film in theaters. “Even today, there is teasing and an ugly look at us,” says Negha, adding that society needs to empathize that like everyone, trans people have emotions. Marakkah hopes that the need to normalize trans lives will change. “I always believe that the day someone walking down the road sees us and walks past us just like another human being on the street, we will know that society has changed,” he says. Jaya says a lot has changed in the last 20 years, but there is still a long way to go. “Trans women are in many fields and there is more awareness of trans men. So more advocacy and lobbying will bring more change,” she believes.
Cinema, our sources agree, plays a huge role. “The art form is something that directly interacts with people, so it matters how you show us on screen because that’s how society accepts us,” says Marakkah. Interestingly, Dorothy was portrayed by trans female actress Jeeva Subramanian in the lead role. Negha says this may not guarantee more opportunities for trans actors. “It’s been four years since I won the Kerala State Film Award. But I can’t say many doors have opened for me since then.” But the fact that Karthik took Jeeva to the Toronto International Film Festival, where the film premiered, gives Negha some hope. “Because they usually cast trans people in crappy roles and didn’t even invite us to the audio launch or the promotion.”
What does the queer community want to see next on screen
Marakkah wishes to see films that show the joy of trans lives. Negha hopes to see trans women lead strong stories, and Jaya agrees. “We would love to see a film about a trans woman who has achieved a lot, someone whose parents support her and help her achieve her goals, a trans woman who got married and adopted children and so on. In fact, people on the sexual spectrum suffer a lot more and making films about their lives would take a lot of time,” says Jaya. Malini, meanwhile, feels that films should not just pander to the audience. “We should make films that take the audience to another level intellectually and emotionally. In this way, Karthik has done a powerful job,” they say.
Of course, many members of the community also mention several shortcomings of Dorothy. Negha wishes the creators would tone down some of the swear words or add a disclaimer in the corner of the frame asking people not to use the swear words in their daily lives. “It’s very hurtful to hear those words. They express a disclaimer for so many things; they can do it for this too, because even today people still use those words to attack us,” he says.
But even Negha doesn’t want to call it a fundamental shortcoming. Malini says that while we can criticize any film we want, when it comes to queer films in Tamil cinema, even the act of criticism is shaped by privilege. “How many films in 100 years of cinema reflect people’s lives? So we don’t want to dissect frame by frame and nitpicks. Because at the end of the day, the parent or the young man watching the film should understand that.” They add that nowadays only the privileged feel comfortable in a theater seat. “The oppressed bow their heads in shame or think twice before applauding. Such is the state of cinema, so to be able to sit comfortably in a cinema seat with a lot of pride and say this is our film is something.”