EXCLUSIVE: Ardh actor Rajpal Yadav opens up about trans representation and reaction to his Parvati look

Rajpal Yadav is one of the most versatile actors in Bollywood. Rajpal Yadav’s latest film Ardh, co-starring Rubina Dilaik, finally released on Zee5 on June 10. Rajpal is essaying the role of Shiva. He plays a lower middle-class man who has years of experience in theatre and now dreams to feature on the big screen. However, it isn’t so easy to make his dreams come true. It is also showed that Rajpal dresses up in a saree and pretends to be a transgender named ‘Parvati’, who earns money at traffic signals.

In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Bubble, Ardh’s director Palaash Muchhal shared the idea behind showing Rajpal’s character as Parvati. Recalling an incident, Palaash shared, “Mein ek din gym jaa raha tha auto mein baithke and waha pe ek aurat ayi and woh kinnar banke paise mang rahi thi… toh mera thoda sa mind flip hua ki yaar ki ye itni majboori hongi inki… phir maine socha ki aise bohot saare ladke bhi honge joh aisa karte honge and then I started my research. (I was going to gym one day, I was in an auto and I saw a women who was in a get up of transgender and she was asking for money. Then I thought that there will be so many boys who might be doing the same thing for money).”

 

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When asked Rajpal Yadav’s reaction to watching himself as Parvati for the first time, he said, “Humara joh first photo session hua, uss samay sach mein laga Shiva toh theek hai, lekin ye Parvati mein… uski bohot saari iski… ye ek bada patla dhaga hai, jara sa aap hogaye toh kahi, kyuki aap dikhte nahi ho aur joh nahi ho woh ban rahe ho… toh muje thoda sa bona pan kyuki aap nahi ho toh aap karna ka exaggerate kar rahe ho… (When it was our first photoshoot, I though Shiva is fine but when it comes to Parvati… there’s a very thin line…because you don’t look like a transgender and you’re pretending to be one…)”

He continued, “Toh uss samay jab humara photoshoot hua aur Palaash and sab logo ne toh woh humara Parvati ka dekha jaye toh pehla audition tha aur usme sab logon ne Palaash ke saath mein sab logon ne iss baat ko appreciate kia ki aap Parvati mein bilkul fit lag rahe ho. (So when the first photoshoot happened and Palaash and everyone saw me as Parvati and everyone appreaciated me and told me that I am looking perfectly fit for the role).”

In the interview, Palaash and Rajpal also shared an incident where Yadav was given money by a woman at a signal while he was in his Parvati look.

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Ardh actor Rajpal Yadav shares how he bagged his first role when he came to Mumbai

Mamta Naik

Content Writer