‘Talki via Bengaluru’: Six transwomen question notions of beauty in this play

Earlier this year, Talki via Bengaluru was staged at the Bangalore International Centre, to much applause from the viewers. Seated among the audience was actor–filmmaker Kirtana Kumar, who was struck not just by the form of the play but also the fact that all the actors on stage were transwomen. Aged 55 and above, they were exploring the ideas of beauty and ageing, and questioning stereotypes. Kumar, who is the curator of the ongoing Kiran Nadar Museum of Art Theatre Festival, knew at that moment that this play would simply have to feature in the inaugural edition of the event.

Talki Via Bengaluru has its roots in a photo exhibition, titled Truth Dream Project, which showcased the fantasies and dreams of transpeople above the age of 50. Organised by Payana, an organisation dedicated to working for the rights and safety of sexual minorities, Truth Dream was exhibited at a number of places across Karnataka between 2022 and 2023. Chandini Gagana, the co-founder of Payana, who conceptualised the exhibition, is also one of the six actors in the play. When the exhibition received a favourable response from college students, after it was shown at universities, Gagana realised that it was a good tool for advocacy and needed to be taken ahead.

The name Talki comes from a mutton dish considered special by the trans community in Karnataka. Taking from that, the play is rooted in the memories and experiences of trans people in Bengaluru. According to Sreejith Sundaram, the director of the play, the play aligned with his politics. “During my travels with the trans community, I have always thought of the life of the elder generation of transwomen. Who takes care of them, what are their struggles? Do they live alone, or with a chosen family? What must it have been to survive, live, even thrive, in the absence of these structures and institutions that exist now that cater to trans people?” he questions.

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Sundaram’s methodology involves having a free-flowing space where he understands his performers—what they want from the project— and conceptualises accordingly. Talki too started with such a workshop. The actors in the play might not have had the opportunity to act on big platforms, but the director believes they connect with the audience based on their lived experiences. As a queer person himself, Sundaram feels a kinship with all their stories and is able to truly offer empathy, which goes beyond allyship.

The central motifs of this play are “the scars on the bodies of these transgender women that age and life have given them,” he adds. “Trans women are often told that love is something that we must seek out in the world... And they do have the most heartwarming and heartbreaking love stories, but the most important unfinished love story in trans life is the love of your own self. To look at yourself beyond the gaze with which the world looks at you, and to love what you see in the mirror—what does that feel like? Talki wants to ask this question and invite its audience to do so, too.”

Talki Via Bengaluru will be staged on October 17 at 7 pm, at Sunder Nursery. 

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