Taali (Hindi Web Series)

Gauri Sawant is a very popular transgender activist in India. So, naturally when a series on her life was announced, a lot of pope were excited. Of course, there were mixed reactions when it was announced that a very popular cis female actress will play the part; but I understand that you do need sometimes popular names to attract audience to watch, especially in a country like India. And with an actor like Sushmita Sen, you won't have to worry about that. And I was right. The composure and vigour with which the lead actor slips into the skin of the complex character is worthy of applause. Unfortunately, overall the series itself feels a lot to be desired. For the uninitiated, 'Taali' means clap, a reference to the way, the trans community or the eunuchs are identified in India by their peculiar style of clapping.

Gauri Sawant, a transwoman became a household name in India, when she managed to pull off the impossible. She petitioned the Supreme Court of India to acknowledge the existence of people who have always lived on the margins, reviled by their birth parents, cast out from society, forced to beg for a living. Recognize the trans folks as third gender. The show starts with us taking into multiple flashbacks from the day of the final verdict. As a. Young boy, Gauri (then Ganesh) always used to like to dress up and dance like girls. While his mother was supportive, she soon died leaving him alone with his father who could not deal with this one bit. When he has had enough, Ganesh runs away from home into the city of dreams Mumbai. We see how Ganesh eventually manages to help an NGO to support trans people, but how and when he feels the need to actually transition from Ganesh to Gauri. He dicks his dick chopped to feel the real pain of being trans in a country like India which has many multiple pre conceived notions about them and the way they treat them. We get to see bit of Ganesh's transition, which happens very quick and before you know, Gauri comes the messiah of her people also educating them for their rights and making a lawful decent earning till the show reaches the climax of the eventual verdict.

The first thing that stands out in the show is of course Sushmita Sen, playing the lead role. Her Gauri is more a celebration than an accurate portrayal of a revered trans icon. She is tough and fiery and the show has some whistle worthy scenes, but unfortunately the show overall barely scratches the surface to educate audience about the struggles of the trans community in India. Scenes where Gauri confronts the hospital authorities for treatment of on of their members was definitely applause worthy. The show at six epodes of about 30 minutes each, feels less to cover the aspects of life of Gauri Sawant and all the good work an the struggles she probably had to deal with. This show, for all its goodness, also feel like a very sanitized and vanilla version mostly used to probably highlight the actors' ability. The script fails a tad in in not attempting a proper deep dive into the world that the transgender community inhabits and apprising the audience of those aspects of their lives that are not already known (often in distorted ways) or fully appreciated. We know that they are sexually exploited, mistreated by the police and others arms of the administration, and forced to live with the 'stigma' of being different. But would have been nice to understand tad bit more details. Also not a good idea to have her play a man during the early adult years. It was just hard to remove oneself from the actor and see her as Ganesh, the man who is struggling with his own identity till that point. Taali makes undeniably important statements but in a manner that is disappointingly prosaic. The story is powerful, the treatment vanilla. (6/10)