India’s Transgender Beauty Pageant has Backing of Bollywood

January 19, 2010

 

India’s first-ever transgender beauty pageant is underway, with auditions being held across the country and the finale set for late February.

The transgender activist Laxmi Narain Tripathi – the event’s organizer – has the support of some of Bollywood’s hottest stars, Celina Jaitely and Seema Biswas, who were present with Tripathi when she announced the start of the event.

Other famous Bollywood stars will act as judges for the event’s grand finale next month.

“The contest would bring the community of transgender to unite and give a positive vibe about what and what they are,” said Tripathi. “It is not about who is the best and most aesthetically beautiful, it’s about who is willing to proudly display their character, take pride in who they are and to prove they are just as human as all of us.”

Tripathi’s company, Twelve Moon Entertainment, has teamed up with business conglomerate Vcare to stage the contest. Auditions will be held in 10 cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Ahmadabad, Jaipur and Kolkata.

The 12 remaining semifinalists will undergo intensive preparation before the finale. Cash prizes will be award to the top three winners.

“All transgenders want to blend in with society and be seen nothing less than a female, but whatever they do, no matter how much they alter themselves, they will always be who they are and should celebrate and be thankful to have the opportunity to live life, possess the natural gift to gift love and be loved,” said Tripathi.

“India proves itself yet again to be the world's largest democracy,” said Jaitely. It is a pleasure to live in a country where human rights and equality amongst all is appreciated. “It’s time for the much oppressed kinnar (eunuchs or transgenders) community to come up on the state and show the world that beauty exists in all human beings. Gender has nothing to do with it.”
 

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