Shunned Hijra: Film Exposes Transgender Life in South Asia
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
July 12, 2012
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/film-bangladeshi-transgender-challenges-cultural-attitudes/story?id=16757517First-time director Noman Robin accidentally walked into a shockingly violent scene that propelled him into the movie making spotlight in his native Bangladesh -- and around the world.
Robin was at a mall as a hijra or transgender female was thrown first out of the men's room and then the ladies' room. As customers began screaming, security guards dragged her to the street and began beating her.
"What are you doing here?" shouted the guards. "I'm human! I need to go to the toilet," she replied.
Today, Robin's film, "Common Gender," exposes the shunned hijra -- transvestites, transgender and intersex -- who cling together in slums, rejected by their families and exploited by society that treats them as sub-human.
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Thu Jul 12, 2012 at 11:12 AM PDT
First Bengali film about transpeople "a resounding success"
by rserven
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/12/1109090/-First-Bengali-film-about-transpeople-a-resounding-successRobin's response was to create the movie, Common Gender. It's a film about a love affair between an outcast hijra, Sushmita, and a Hindu boy, Sanjay, whose parents refuse to accept her. Sushmita ultimately kills herself.
That was unfortunately predictable.
