Sushmita Sen will soon be seen in a project titled Taali, a biopic on the life of transgender activist Shreegauri Sawant. The makers dropped the web series' trailer on Sunday and it became an instant hit with fans. Fans are lauding Sushmita's transformation in the trailer and her portrayal of the transgender activist. The biggest win for the team, however, appears to be Shreeguari Sawant's reaction after watching Taali. In a recent interview with News18, the former Miss Universe opened up about Shreegauri Sawant's reaction and said, “She came to me, blessed me, kissed my forehead and gave me a gift. She told me, ‘I don't want to watch. Yeh jo kar rahi hai, sahi kar rahi hai. Yeh meri marble chi murti hai [What ever she is doing, she is doing right. She is my marble statue]."
The positive response from the activist is special because Sushmita Sen and Shreegauri Sawant understand each other on a human level, the actress said. “We connect on a human level. The goodness she has and embodies, I see it and feel it. And it's not in the most obvious way where we go out of our way to tell people we love them. She doesn't do that,” Sushmita Sen added.
Sushmita Sen also spoke about how she connected with Shreegauri Sawant during the course of the project. Notably, the actress revealed that fighting for adoption rights was a cause that the two resonated with. Shreegauri Sawant was the first transgender to file a petition in the Supreme Court advocating the adoption rights of people from her community. On the other hand, Sushmita Sen also fought against the system to adopt her daughters, Renee and Alisah in the early 2000s. The actress was denied adoption rights for being a single and fertile woman.
Sushmita Sen revealed that the two hardly spoke about adoption, instead they discussed a lot about motherhood. “We talk about motherhood, not about adoption. Gayatri is just one of the children she's a mother to. She's a mother to many children who live with her. But the adoptive rights are still not in place for the transgender community, the LGBTQ community or the third gender.”
The actress also stressed that their struggles cannot be compared. According to Sushmita Sen, Shreegauri Sawant's fights have been “way bigger.” Sushmita Sen said, “Gauri's fights have been way bigger… the right to have a birth certificate, a death certificate, to get a job, to own land and just the things that we take for granted. We generalise them and say that everyone talks, shouts and claps a certain way, but that's not true. There are lawyers, doctors, police officers and IAS officers in the transgender community. At the end of the day, if you're fit for a job, you're fit for a job.”
Meanwhile, check out the Taali trailer here:
Written by Kshitij Patwardhan, Taali is directed by Ravi Jadhav and co-produced by Kartk D Nishandar, Arjun Singgh Baran and Afeefa Nadiadwala Sayed.
Taali will stream on Jio Cinemas from August 15.