Transindia – A Documentary by Meera Darji

From the USA Today newspaper:

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Monday issued two directives moving the Pentagon closer to allowing transgender men and women to serve openly in the military.

First, Carter ordered the creation of a Pentagon working group “to study over the next six months the policy and readiness implications of welcoming transgender persons to serve openly,” Carter said in a statement released Monday afternoon.

Earlier this year, it was announced that TV and Film actor Taye Diggs, who can currently be seen playing a San Francisco PD Homicide detective in the TNT television series Murder in the First, has agreed to perform in the live theatrical production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. This production won the 2014 Tony for Best Musical Revival. Mr. Diggs will take over the role of Hedwig on July 22nd at the Belasco Theater on West 44th Street – the epicenter of New York’s theatrical zone known as Broadway.

Then there’s the near constant coverage of Caitlyn Jenner in the supermarket tabloids and the gossip press and media.

We are all aware of the success of the TV series Orange is the New Black, as well as the award-winning TV series Transparent.

All of the above are references to transgenders in the news and in the media, as well as in the arts. But what about the transgenders who you don’t read about. The ones that are living their lives not only here in the States, or in the European Union, but in other places in the world.

UK filmmaker Meera Darji has recently completed her Documentary Short called Transindia. It is a moving documentary that explores the Transgender community (Hijras) in Ahmedabad, India. The Hijras, long ago, in the days of the Mughal Empire, were accepted in society, where they earned a good sense of respect.

The days of the Mughal Empire were followed by the era of the British Raj, when Britain had colonized India. During this period, in 1871, a law was passed. Section 26 of the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 – basically classified all Hijras as criminals. The nuts and bolts of the act basically allowed that any Hijra, appearing in public places or streets, either dressed or ornamented as a woman, who plays music, dances, or performs any public exhibition, could be arrested without warrant, and would face either 2 years of imprisonment, or fines, or both.

Transparent – New Series on Amazon

Oy veh!

Now that’s not an expression I use either regularly or even irregularly. But it was those two words that ended Season One of the surprise hit, the Amazon Instant/Prime Video Series called Transparent.

The transparent reference is about the fact that within most families, secrets are kept – meaning that transparent, in the sense of transparency, is not a word that rings true for most families, and specifically not this particular So-Cal family.

This is a family with issues – and that’s being kind. Issues that are life changing, and that’s just being honest. Intrigued yet?

Okay – maybe not yet, so let’s have a quick look at this family.

At the head of the family is Mort Pfefferman. Unless you know him well, for the moment we’ll describe him as a former college professor, former husband now divorced, and current father of three adult children. Mort is 70 and he’s harbored a secret for most of his adult life.

You see, Mort doesn’t want to be called Mort any longer. He’s decided to come out to both his family, and then publicly, under a new name which would be Maura Pfefferman. That’s right – Mort has been living as man, dressing as man, and for all intents and purpose was a man for these many years. But his reality is that he is a man who really wanted to be a woman. Mort/Maura is a transgender.

Jeffrey Tambor has the role. And when we meet him, we haven’t been made privy to his so far unstated new reality. He’s called his three adult children to his home with the intent of telling them his news.