Students of the BMM section of Vivekanand Education Society have made a documentary on eunuchs, in a bid to clear misconceptions surrounding their lives, writes Kamiya Mohan Jani

“We hate some people, but we do not know them and we do not know them because we hate them.” These are the words that flash on the screen before the documentary made on eunuchs commences. ‘Beyond X and Y’, is the name given to the documentary made by the final year students of Bachelors of Mass Media (BMM) of Vivekanand Education Society. Quite interestingly, the entire 23 minutes documentary revolved around the ‘eunuchs’, their lifestyle and their various sub-groups.

Although the topic ‘Eunuchs’ was given by the professor, the students voluntarily decided to make a film on this sensitive issue rather than a power point presentation or in a debate form. Bratin Roy, Janki Naik, Ashwin Rao, Swapna Pratap, Hemant Kale and Shradha Shetty were the six people involved in the making of this documentary but heading them was another important person whose name cannot be missed out and that is Laxmi Narain Tripathi, the eunuch who was instrumental in helping them prepare the documentary.
“Laxmi has been with us through out the making. In fact she was the one who took us from the eunuchs homes to their working place. We were with her for five days, from morning to night. We roamed around with her to various places from Thane to Grant road,” says Swapna. Before starting their work, the first thing she informed the students was the difference between eunuchs and hijras. “Eunuchs is a castrated human male and hijras may not be castrated. A man who feels like a woman can join that community. Hijras is a community and it cannot have an English name, “ notifies Hemant.

It took them about a week for them to execute this documentary on hijras. The film is about their prospective about the world, the way they live and the three sub groups of hijras- Badhaai, Mangthi and Dhandewali. “Badhaai are the people who go during the celebrations like marriage, birth or any other good news, whereas Mangthi are the beggars who are often found at the signals and Dhandhewali are those who are involved in prostitution,” avers Ashwin.

Laxmi is the president of ‘Dai Welfare Community’, which in itself is the first community for the hijras. They had organized cultural dance festival and these students were given the honor of judging them. “We judged them on the basis of their costumes, expression and dance. It was great watching the show,” says Shraddha.
The students went with them to various restaurants and coffee shops and realized that they do not really care what the world thinks about them. Swapna said, “Looking at their attitude, even our attitude change,” She adds, “You speak with them with little love and respect and they will give their life for you. They say that you come one step ahead and we would come the remaining nine steps ahead but that one step does not come forward from you.”

The students have plans of sending their documentary to the various film festivals. According to them, had it not been Laxmi they would not have been able to make the documentary. She told them that they are the first group with whom she actually visited the entire Mumbai and has been so comfortable working with. The students are proud to say that they are still in touch with Laxmi and various other people whom they came across during the project.