In fashion, trans models are walking for top designers. (writer of Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga ) became a style icon. Rituparna Ghosh (Miss Transqueen India 2021) has graced Lakmé Fashion Week. Makeup brands like Nykaa and MyGlamm have run campaigns featuring trans influencers, normalizing their presence in lifestyle advertising.
Today, the “traditional” lifestyle coexists with new possibilities. Younger transgender Indians increasingly choose living independently, pursuing higher education, and building corporate careers. Meanwhile, many hijra gharanas are adapting, offering not just ritual roles but also shelters, microloans, and community support for those rejected by families. For decades, Indian cinema—particularly mainstream Bollywood—treated transgender characters as comic sidekicks or grotesque villains. Films like Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) with the character “Zebunissa” or Khiladi 786 (2012) used hijras for cheap laughs. Actresses like Rakhi Sawant or Johnny Lever played exaggerated versions, never actual transgender people.
However, this lifestyle came with deep social exclusion. Until the landmark NALSA judgment of 2014 (which recognized a third gender) and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2019, most hijras were forced into begging or sex work. Their living conditions—often in cramped, police-harassed colonies—were a far cry from the glamour associated with entertainment.
Instead, I’d be glad to write a thoughtful, respectful, and informative long-form article about (often referred to as hijras , kinnars , or more broadly as transgender persons ). This approach would honor their dignity, culture, struggles, and achievements, while still covering lifestyle, entertainment, and visibility.
As audiences, our job is simple: watch their films, subscribe to their channels, applaud their drag shows—and then fight for the laws and social safety nets that make a decent life possible for all, not just the famous. This article is dedicated to the memory of all transgender Indians who were denied the right to live, love, and laugh openly. Their absence is the sharpest critique of our society’s slow change.