'Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui' director on not casting a trans woman in the film
- IndiaGlitz, [Sunday,December 12 2021]
Ayushmann Khurrana's latest film 'Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui' was released this Friday and it has received generally positive reviews from the audience. Following the trend in Ayushmann's filmography, this one is also a content driven film and it attempts to introduce the concept of transgender to common people. The film features actress Vaani Kapoor in the role of a trans woman who gets into a romantic entanglement with Ayushmann's character.
One issue that several people had with the film even before release is that Vaani's role should've been played by an actual trans woman. Talking about the issue, director Abhishek Kapoor told The Indian Express, We went through many avenues and there was a thought about casting a trans person but you know I find everyone is so fascinated just by actors. Why is it that everything is legitimised by an actor? Why can’t a trans person write the film? Why can’t a trans person direct the film?
Extrapolating further, Abhishek said, First of all, this fascination is incorrect. Films are not made by actors, they are made by filmmakers and writers. Eventually, there is a representation by an individual actor but I try to see above this because there is a story to be told. You have to reach out to people at large by taking the story to them and I thought this is the best way to take this story there. When you talk to someone, you have to talk to them in their language.
It seems like Abhishek is crystal clear about his objective with the film. His priority was to tell a story around the subject of trans people and he succeeded in doing so.