Taali: Gauri Sawant reacts to Sushmita Sen portraying her, says ‘most of us from the community wanted…’

Sushmita Sen will be seen portraying the famous transgender activist Gauri Sawant in an upcoming web series for Voot Select. The former Miss Universe, who slo headlines the crime drama series Aarya for Disney+ Hotstar, shared her intriguing first look on her Instagram account, which went viral in seconds.

Now, Gauri Sawant herself has reacted to Sushmita portraying her and said that it is a mark of respect for the transgender community that a female actor is playing such a role, which has mostly been essayed by a male actor. Akshay Kumar, Vijay Raaz, and Paresh Rawal have been seen playing transgender roles in Bollywood films.

Gauri told Hindustan Times, “Most of us from the community wanted to be women, and that is why we decided to wear a saree. Now, it is a mark of respect for us that a female actor is playing the role, instead of a male actor, which we have seen happening in the past.” She even added that the Main Hoon Na actress was her first choice for the role.

Since the first look of Taali was revealed, many netizens shared that a transgender actor should have been cast in the lead role, instead of Sushmita. Negating such reactions, Gauri said to the portal, “One should think about how challenging the role will be for a woman with such stature. Because the role comes with a lot of taboos with which we live with. She has shown courage to take it up.”

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The activist, who founded the NGO Sakhi Char Chowghi Trust which promotes safe sex and provides counselling to transgender people, concluded that transgenders should not be limited to playing only transgender characters. Lastly, Gauri expressed her wish to portray Sushma Swaraj in the late politician’s biopic.