Tejal Sinha
tejal.sinha30@gmail.com
Trinetra Haldar Gummarju is breaking barriers and redefining representation with her powerful portrayal of Amy in the critically acclaimed psychological crime thriller Kankhajura. As a trans woman playing a character layered with toughness, vulnerability and raw emotion, Trinetra delivers a performance that is as groundbreaking as it is deeply human. Balancing her unique background as a medical graduate and an actor, she shares insights into the complexities of her role, the challenges of telling untold stories and her hopes for a more inclusive future in Indian cinema.
When asked about her first reaction to the project and what drew her to the story and her character, Trinetra shared with The Pioneer, “I just felt like a crime thriller is not something that I ever saw myself being part of because. We often don’t associate those worlds with having trans characters in them.” She was drawn to the uniqueness of the story — a beautiful crime thriller set in Goa — and the depth of its characters. “Whether it’s Ashu, or Amy — Amy is the character that I play — I just felt like this is not something I’ve ever seen before. It’s not something I’ve done before. And it would really challenge me as an actor to do something so different to what I’ve done before. And, yeah, that’s pretty much why I said yes to it.” The psychological thriller centers on themes of guilt and silence, creating a gripping emotional landscape. Trinetra described the emotional layers of her character Amy in detail: “What I really love about Amy is that she is nothing like me in real life. Right now, I’m someone that is fairly composed, that carries itself with a certain level of poise because I had to teach myself those things in order to function in the worlds that I inhabit — to be articulate in a certain way, in English and to speak a certain way.” In contrast, Amy is unapologetically raw and bold. “She’s someone that’s very on your face about what she feels. She doesn’t need makeup on her face to feel like a woman. She’s very tough for the whole world, but she’s also got this layer of vulnerability and softness when it comes to her partner, who is unfortunately very abusive with her. And she’s also got a very soft spot for the protagonist Ashu, which becomes her downfall kind of, or her weakness in a way.”
For Trinetra, the chance to portray such a multifaceted character was thrilling. Playing opposite a celebrated actor like Roshan Mathew, who plays Ashu, was “a privilege because he’s an actor that I’ve admired for many years now in Malayalam cinema. I’m a huge fan of Malayalam cinema. I first watched him in Moothon, which is one of my favorite movies of all time, which interestingly also had my maiden co-actors Shobhita and Shashank.” Knowing she would share screen space with him made the role even more special. “It felt like a dream team coming together.”
Discussing a particularly challenging scene in the series, Trinetra recalled the moment Amy has been abused by her boyfriend and is found in a vulnerable, drunken state by Ashu. “She suddenly kind of wakes up to this man in front of her and even though it’s Roshan, even though it’s Ashu and it’s Amy’s friend, in that moment, she is so traumatized by what she’s just gone through that she kind of reacts in a very negative way and she asks him to leave and pushes him away.” The complexity of portraying this trauma while also appearing intoxicated made the scene very demanding. Trinetra reflected, “I may have had bad experiences, but I don’t know what it’s like to be abused to that extent and to have that level of hostility against someone that I love in that moment. So, yeah, that felt really difficult.” However, working with talented and supportive co-actors made it a safe and rewarding experience to explore these deep emotions.
When it came to the source material, KanKhajura is adapted from the Israeli series Magpies. Trinetra revealed that she approached the project with fresh eyes. “I read the script first, the whole thing from start to finish, so it felt very fresh to me. I didn’t know it was an adaptation until I finished reading it. Then I found out, ‘Oh, okay, it’s actually an interpretation.’ So I already had an image of Amy and Ashu in my head.” She watched only the first few episodes of the original to understand the dynamics and intimacy between the characters, particularly to capture the physicality of the trans woman character. “Because trans people are very diverse. We’re not one kind of person, especially in the Indian context because it’s adapted to India. Here we have so many different kinds of trans people — from the Kinnar community and other communities — so I watched it purely to understand how I would like to bring Amy to life, what I would like to do differently, and how I would relate to Ashu as Amy. And it helped. It really did help to see that.” Known for her depth and sensitivity in acting, Trinetra shared the preparation that went into embodying Amy: “The first thing I did was reach out to my acting coach, Puja Swaroop, who’s from the Batch Work Ensemble theater company. She’s extremely talented. I reached out to her personally to do a workshop for KanKhajura because I wanted to do that prep work.” Beyond emotional preparation, Trinetra learned to ride a scooter — a key part of Amy’s character. “It was really funny for everyone to see me figure it out in Goa, in this swampy, marshy area which wasn’t even a road. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I actually don’t know how to figure this out.’ But I did.” Amy’s bold, visual style — red hair, piercings and distinctive fashion — also excited Trinetra as she enjoyed bringing a whole new persona to life.
On handling the emotional intensity of the role, Trinetra drew upon her unique background as a doctor. “That’s just the job, you know? I think something that really helped me learn that skill is being a doctor. I completed my MBBS in 2023, and was a medical student for many years before that. That environment shows you some of the lowest points of humanity — disease, death, dying and at a very young age.” This experience gave her “a great amount of empathy towards people” while also teaching her “the very important skill of detachment. Doctors have a word for it: attached detachment. You have just the right amount of care and empathy, but then you also know when to not make it a personal thing.” This balance helped her immensely on set. “You perform and when they say cut, you cut. I walked away from traumatising scenes feeling very okay because I had done the work to prepare and I had co-actors I could trust.”
Reflecting on representation, Trinetra emphasised the importance of nuanced, meaningful roles for trans actors. “Change is a very slow process, especially when we’re talking about major social change like inclusion of trans people. As an industry, we are very resistant to change.” She highlighted that even basic gender equality is only now becoming normalised, with conversations about pay parity and recognition of directors without gender qualifiers. “So for trans acceptance and representation to really blossom is going to take a long time. Just because we’ve had a few shows or movies does not mean the world has changed, but it means we’re taking small steps in the right direction.” Trinetra expressed her pride in being part of “a small but significant step towards that change.”
She shared the lack of positive representation growing up, saying, “We never saw ourselves represented on screens in a positive light — whether it was ads or movies. It was always something to laugh at or look down upon.” Creating a character like Amy — one who “has layers, who is a whole human being” — is deeply meaningful to her. Trinetra looks forward to continuing to bring such complexity and empathy to future roles.
