Felicitation of female impersonators in jatra

After several LGBT movements in India, looks like the country is now ready to talk about queer arts. Many from the community are chairing universities, contesting elections and joining government services.
In this era of gender fluidity, it is with fond memories and pride that we can look back three to four decades, when Bengal boasted of several popular artistes who portrayed the opposite gender in jatras.
To acknowledge those legends and introduce them to the new generation, a gathering was recently organised in ICCR. Conceptualised by Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee in collaboration with Kamalika Banerjee, famous female impersonators Janardan Nandi and Chapal Bhaduri, popularly known as Janardan Rani and Chapal Rani, were felicitated at the event. A special screening of Chena Kintu Ajana, a documentary on female impersonation in Bengal’s folk theatre, was also screened.
The film gave an insight into the lives and times of jatra’s most iconic performers ever. “Gender fluidity, queer arts should be talked about more openly today and the journey has just begun for me by revisiting these queens,” said Sujoy. Pramita Mallick, Debesh Chattopadhyay, Chaitali Dasgupta, Sudarshan Chakravorty, Eleena Banik, Chitra Sen, Kohinoor Sen Barat and Sidhu were present at the do.