Apart from Sushmita Sen, another actor who has presented her best of creative efforts in Taali is Sheetal Kale. In an exclusive chat with The Pioneer, she discusses working on the project, struggles of transgender community, sharing the screen with Sushmita Sen, and more.
SHIKHA DUGGAL
Taali is all over the news — it really was a creative choice! Everyone is calling it a Sushmita Sen starrer, but not to forget it was also the character of Nargis played by Sheetal Kale that presented so many creative efforts from her side and we as viewers could empathize with her tragic ending. The story isn’t fictional, based on true events and Shreegauri Sawant did lose her best friend! That breaks our heart even more.
Telling us all about the struggle of transgender community as an insider, we have the supporting lead on board with us — “Taali wasn’t just a story to me, over the days it had become a social subject. Without being loud, we wanted to spread some awareness. I knew the movie was based on transgender life but what I wasn’t aware of was the fact that it’s the biopic of Shreegauri Sawant. All of a sudden, my approach changed. I still wanted to spread awareness but with some bullet points!”
She is a Mumbaikar, the only interactions that she had with transgenders were how they were, very unfortunately, entreating for money on traffic signals. But after doing the movie, in-depth with them she understood how loyal are they. They are hard to miss, they weren’t even missed in our mythology so how come the discrimination now? They are so much more than dressing up in glittering saris and coated with make-up. To her their glimpse will always be that third sex who gives “duas” to us. She continued, “I was feeling like a new-comer on the sets and my fevibond was my director. Sushmita was so involved in this project that the director wasn’t going for any cuts, he let the leading lady instruct us how to go for the right representation because sentiments of a community is involved. I had heard in the industry previously that she can be snooty sometimes, all of these hearsay are so baseless. She was like a friend to me.”
The turning point came, when she had to spill out all the anger on Sushmita Sen. Oh my god, she’s such a huge actress in her industry and how she can pull her collar was the only thought going on in Sheetal’s mind! She was in so much dilemma for several hours. She wasn’t able to crack the scene wondering who she was casted opposite! But our interviewee cleared the air that it wasn’t possible without the protagonist’s comfort at place, and Sushmita said to her just go for it. And they cracked the scene, finally. “Trust me, I was anxious,” said Sheetal. Besides, “I couldn’t meet the real face behind the story but she saw my passing shots and her comment was, what a beautiful and brill Nargis is on board for my biopic. Nargis was a really pivotal woman in her life, she’s the one who compelled her to transform from Ganesh to Gauri. But my overall camaraderie with Sushmita Senwas something I’ll cherish forever, whenever she speaks it always feels like a learning for you. She’s coming from a space of enlightenment, totally. It’s all about her aura which is so positive, it’s really so hard to stay so positive in a world like this and she’s that gem here.”
She saw a lot of videos of transgenders just to pick up that mannerism, and then on the sets she was surrounded by real transgenders. They still feel so unaccepted by society regardless of what we see in the main headlines, claimed the actress. The hijras are trading off this uneasy ambivalence. There were so many sad stories that came up on the sets of Taali that hurt her. “They are going through a lot of misery in chawls. Nobody is willing to hear the real sorrow of a transgender, it’s only limited to the headlines. Most of them have a dark past that’s unforgettable because they were abandoned, they were bullied to no extent one can imagine! Acceptance can only come through education, and awareness. They wouldn’t have to implore on streets and go back to those red light areas if they are allowed to have the same education as us. I repeat, without getting bullied! Once you try to speak to them, you’ll feel like a family with them. Their blessings are for real! But happy to see that slight awareness is seeping into family audiences also about transgenders and they are empathizing with them through our movie. My next reaction is only going to be, if I bump into a transgender I am definitely giving them a casting director’s card because they have a lot of colours to show to this world because they are really talented. One can’t even imagine.”
