Deepa Mehta And Sirat Taneja Talk About ‘I Am Sirat’ At TIFF, Trans Actors Playing Trans Roles: ‘It Shouldn’t Be Tokenism’
etcanada.comAs the glitz-and-glam of TIFF wrapped up in Toronto over the weekend, a special film titled “I Am Sirat” made its international debut. “I Am Sirat”, which stars Sirat Taneja and c0-directed by Deepa Mehta, follows a transgender woman in New Delhi, India, who must act as her mother’s son at home but lives her true self around her friends and colleagues.
Taneja and Mehta caught up with ET Canada’s Sangita Patel, discussing the importance of international LGBTQ+ representation on the silver screen. READ MORE: Sylvester Stallone Says He’s ‘The Last Of The Dinosaurs’ At TIFF Premiere Of Documentary ‘Sly’ “I don’t feel it’s mine.
It’s her narrative. It’s through her lens. It’s her journey as a trans woman in India,” says Mehta of the story, which was completely shot on smartphones.
Taneja expressed that although her mother knows she’s at TIFF, she still doesn’t accept her identity. “She knows about my sexuality but she doesn’t accept it.
