Why India's First Transgender Beauty Queen Making a TV Debut Is Great News
Nitasha Biswas became Miss Transqeen India in 2014 and has represented India in international modeling pageants.
Source: Instagram
India’s first transgender beauty queen Nitasha Biswas is all set to make her television debut with a series titled ‘Dating in the Dark’.
The 27-year-old became the first transgender to win the Miss Transqueen India beauty pageant, the first of its kind in India, in 2017.
While the conversation about Section 377 and gender is rife at this point in the country, Biswas’s entry into the tele-world may signal a new dawn for the trans-community who have hitherto been neglected by the entertainment industry so far.
Even though several films have attempted to include transgender characters in their plots, these parts are rarely played by actual transgenders and actors often end up making a mockery out of the community.
While the norm so far has been to cross dress hetero-male actors as trans people, Biswas’s debut may signal a change and provide actors and models in the trans community an entry into films and TV.
With the Supreme Court making third gender legal in India in 2014, the trans community has proliferated into various new professional spheres including modelling.
Trans models such as Nepal's Anjali Lama and Mona Varonica Campbell (who is a plus-sized trans-model) even walked the ramp during last year's Lakme Fashion Week.
However Biswas, who was born a boy, told IANS in an interview that rejection was part of living as a transgender in India.
“We have faced and continue to face rejections from workplace, friends, family and whom we fall in love with,” Nitasha said.
‘Dating in the Dark’ is based on the model of several international dating shows that make participants go on a date but in complete darkness, though night-vision cameras record the date for the viewers. It is only at the end of the date that the faces of participants of each episode are revealed to each other.
While Biswas who has so far been on two episodes failed to find love yet, she feels confident.
She feels love has no gender and that it was because of this attitude that she was sure she will find love and acceptance in the world.
Along with being a model, Biswas who hails from Kolkata is also a student of Business Management.
The 27-year-old became the first transgender to win the Miss Transqueen India beauty pageant, the first of its kind in India, in 2017.
While the conversation about Section 377 and gender is rife at this point in the country, Biswas’s entry into the tele-world may signal a new dawn for the trans-community who have hitherto been neglected by the entertainment industry so far.
Even though several films have attempted to include transgender characters in their plots, these parts are rarely played by actual transgenders and actors often end up making a mockery out of the community.
While the norm so far has been to cross dress hetero-male actors as trans people, Biswas’s debut may signal a change and provide actors and models in the trans community an entry into films and TV.
With the Supreme Court making third gender legal in India in 2014, the trans community has proliferated into various new professional spheres including modelling.
Trans models such as Nepal's Anjali Lama and Mona Varonica Campbell (who is a plus-sized trans-model) even walked the ramp during last year's Lakme Fashion Week.
However Biswas, who was born a boy, told IANS in an interview that rejection was part of living as a transgender in India.
“We have faced and continue to face rejections from workplace, friends, family and whom we fall in love with,” Nitasha said.
‘Dating in the Dark’ is based on the model of several international dating shows that make participants go on a date but in complete darkness, though night-vision cameras record the date for the viewers. It is only at the end of the date that the faces of participants of each episode are revealed to each other.
While Biswas who has so far been on two episodes failed to find love yet, she feels confident.
She feels love has no gender and that it was because of this attitude that she was sure she will find love and acceptance in the world.
Along with being a model, Biswas who hails from Kolkata is also a student of Business Management.