7 Iconic Transgender Roles Played by Bollywood Actors

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Sadashiv Amrapurkar as Maharani in Sadak (1991)

An evil trans woman who runs a brothel. There’s something about the menace that Amrapurkar brought with his performance that is gripping. 

Kubbra Sait as Kukoo in Sacred Games (2018)

To Sacred Games’s credit, Kukoo is not defined solely by her transgender identity. Her charisma, her capacity for love and her experiences of loss all contribute to the narrative.

Vaani Kapoor as Maanvi in Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui (2021)

Maanvi doesn't fit the stereotypical appearance associated with being transgender.

Akshay Kumar in Laxmii (2020)

Kumar plays a Muslim man possessed by the ghost of a transwoman, thus achieving the rare feat of being both Islamophobic and transphobic at one go.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Haddi (2023)

To Siddiqui’s credit, his turn as Haddi, the heroine of Haddi, is measured and not clichéd.

Sushmita Sen as Gauri Sawant in Taali (2023)

Taali does approach the transgender experience primarily from a cisgender perspective, even though Shreegauri Sawant (on whose life the film is based) was closely involved with the project.

Trinetra Haldar Gummaraju as Meher in Made in Heaven 2 (2023)

Considering so many of the other trans characters we’ve seen on screen this year, there’s clearly a need for Meher’s lectures.

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