The All Assam Transgender Association (AATA) has opposed the film on transgenders tittled Outcast which is soon to release on various film festival circuits starting May.
The association protested that the name and poster of the film presents the transgender community in a bad light and they have taken offence to the same.
Swati Bidhan Baruah, the founder of AATA and the state’s first transgender judge said mentioned in a statement that at present, many transgenders are finding employment in different fields and are being accepted by the society. So, it is not terming them as “outcasts” is wrong.
Baruah who is also the country’s third transgender judge further expressed disappointment over the poster of the film saying that a gay man has been portrayed as a transgender with heavy makeup and jewellery which gives out wrong ideas and “stereotypes how a transgender person should look as”.
The judge also maintained that the film has hurt the emotions and feelings of the entire transgender community.
The film ‘Outcast’ has been directed by Mumbai-based Assamese filmmaker Prakash Deka and produced by Milin Dutta, a transgender man based in the United States. The production has been done in association with Vortex films.
The film tells the story of an Assamese transgender person’s struggles and hopes and the way he faced discrimination in society.
The shoot of the film has been carried in locations of Guwahati, Tezpur and Nalbari.
The key roles in the film have been played by Benjamin Daimary, Bitopi Dutta, Nibedita Kalita, Atanu Mahanta, Meena Engti , Uday Sankar, Palash Mech and Liku Mani.
The film mainly revolves around the sufferings a transgender person born in a remote village of the state has to endure.