When we speak of courage, we often picture warriors with swords. But some of the fiercest battles are fought not on battlefields, but in homes, television studios, quiet hospital rooms, and inside the soul. Rose Venkatesan has fought on all these fronts, and emerged not only as a survivor, but as a trailblazer who continues to challenge norms, shift narratives, and light the path for others. Born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Rose is known to many as India’s first transgender talk show host. But limiting her story to this one first would be an injustice to her kaleidoscopic life. She is also a filmmaker, radio personality, political voice, corporate trainer, and passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and sexual freedom. Her strength is as bold as her femininity is soft. And her honesty, even when it reveals pain, is never bitter, only illuminating. From a young age, Rose knew she was a girl, though the world demanded she play a boy’s part. What followed were years of emotional isolation, family rejection, and deeply traumatic experiences, including violence, imprisonment within her own home, and a suicide attempt. But Rose’s story is not one of tragedy. It is one of transformation. Her transition, completed with surgery in Thailand in 2010, marked not an end, but the beginning of her stepping fully into herself, unapologetically. She first captured the nation’s attention through her talk show Ippadikku Rose (Yours truly, Rose), where she brought taboo subjects into the living rooms of conservative India with elegance, intellect, and charm.
She later hosted Idhu Rose Neram (This is Rose Time), ventured into radio, and took bold steps toward politics, announcing a platform that centered sexual freedom and marginalized voices. In recent years, her artistic heart has found refuge and release in filmmaking. Her debut film Cricket Scandal brings transgender and queer love stories to Indian cinema, not as caricatures or jokes, but as fully human, central narratives. Rose is currently based in Chennai, where she balances artistic dreams with practical realities, working in corporate training and organic farming, all while continuing to speak out against discrimination. Her life stands as both a mirror and a rebellion, reflecting the injustices many face while refusing to accept them as fixed truths. In a country where transgender people are still so often reduced to stereotypes, erased from media, or used for comic relief, Rose Venkatesan insists on being seen, in all her complexity. She is beautiful, articulate, resilient, tender, bold, and unrelentingly herself. She is a rose, not just in name, but in essence, soft petals and hidden thorns alike. Today, I have the immense joy and honor of speaking with her, a woman whose voice has stirred both admiration and controversy, whose existence is a form of resistance, and whose legacy, I believe, is still only beginning to unfold.
Monika: Today, I have the true pleasure and honor of speaking with Rose Venkatesan, a pioneering Indian talk show host, filmmaker, political voice, and transgender rights activist. Rose, thank you so much for being here, it’s an honor to welcome you.
Rose: Thank you, Monika! I’m so happy to be here with you. I’ve heard wonderful things about your work, and I’m really looking forward to this conversation.
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| Just having a good time. |
Monika: Rose, you've explored such a wide range of fields, from talk show hosting and radio to filmmaking, politics, and transgender activism. Out of all these passions, which one speaks to you the most? Or is there perhaps another path that currently captures your heart?
I prefer filmmaking to everything else, as it gives me the opportunity and almost total freedom to say what I want to say, to bring out that women’s/transwomen’s perspective to the Indian movie, which is largely a patriarchal, male-centered, male-glorifying, gay-ridiculing, trans-ridiculing, female-abusive item of entertainment.
I have tried my hands at TV, radio, and politics, all of which force you to work under or for a male owner/controller, who himself has many of the same prejudices that I wish to fight, expose, and expel. The entertainment industry and politics in India are highly sexploitative of women and any transwomen that might want to make it up the ladder.
Monika: You made your television debut in 2008 with Ippadikku Rose ("Yours Truly, Rose"), a bold and socially relevant talk show that tackled subjects like tradition, taboo, rebellion, and culture. Looking back now, how do you remember that groundbreaking experience and your entry into the public eye?
Rose: It was a time of my life when transgenderism was pushed into the forefront in Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state. I couldn’t handle well the sudden outpouring of attention from the media. It was really a period of extremes, family rebellion against my TV appearance in my own identity leading to being shunned, overwhelming media attention as I was constantly being asked for one interview or another, repeating the same narrative of my life history to the point of boredom, being identified and venerated by the general public, and the sudden increase in men’s sexual attention to a beautiful transsexual celebrity, expressed in constant phone call tortures. Sometimes, even journalists themselves would ask me out in weird ways instead of just interviewing me and leaving.
Monika: After your groundbreaking debut, you returned to television in 2009 to host Idhu Rose Neram ("This is Rose Time"). What happened after Ippadikku Rose, and how did this new opportunity come about?
Rose: Ippadikku Rose was dropped by the network that first hired me, Star Vijay TV, the most popular network among the middle and upper classes, especially the youth, after about a year of airing. This was quite unlike how many other shows continue for years with the same anchor, while my show, hosted by a transsexual anchor, was discontinued in such a short period. This happened despite the show’s low production budget and mass appeal, in contrast to the high expenditure required to produce other shows that fared equally or worse in the ratings. I saw an element of transgender discrimination, despite the media hype and the “oh-we-treat-transgender-as-an-equal-anchor” attitude the network projected publicly. I ended up moving to another network that didn’t produce the show but gave me free airtime to run my own production, Idhu Rose Neram.
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| Directing on location. |
Monika: How did things unfold at this new network, and what challenges did you face while producing Idhu Rose Neram independently?
Rose: The politically aligned network, with its own internal political divides, each side supporting a different potential heir of the then-leader of the political party it was affiliated with, got me somewhat embroiled in petty family politics. One group would oppose my show simply because it had been approved and accepted into the network by the rival group. Nevertheless, it was a struggle to produce my own show with limited self-funding and to market it with an almost non-existent full-time staff. The show eventually went off the air when the network signed it off.
Monika: In 2010, after your work in television concluded, you transitioned into radio and became a radio jockey. What was that experience like for you?
Rose: The Radio Jockey option came to me on its own. I was publicized as a radio counselor for people dealing with personal emotional struggles. The show was taken off air and I was removed within a few weeks of the resignation of the lady Operations Head who took me on board. Here again, I faced the receiving side of corporate use and abuse of a transsexual person and the sudden dropping of her.
Monika: You've explored many forms of media, but filmmaking seems to hold a special place in your heart. What made you gravitate toward directing films, and how did you begin that journey?
Rose: After all the use-and-throw attitude expressed by the corporate media, which would never allow me to express some of the deeply cherished issues and points of view I wanted to share, I decided that being an independent film director without any corporate control would be the best way to express those issues. I started my journey to becoming a film director, allowing this passion to grow and gaining some skills in this department of art. Finding a producer is already hard for a woman director, it's even harder for a transsexual director. Sexual exploitation was always waiting for me at the doorstep of nearly every producer I wished to meet. So, I avoided “searching” for producers. I tried to find other possible ways, such as LGBT/women’s film funds, etc., but without any success.
Monika: That sounds incredibly challenging. How did your first film eventually come to life?
Rose: So I simply waited it out, pushing the passion for filmmaking to the recesses of my pursuits, until a childhood friend of mine named Senthil, a distant male cousin, changed my course with his newfound interest in film production, coinciding with our reunion after years of separation from family circles. He was not strong enough financially, but with hard struggles, he managed to fund the film to completion, and the film is ready for release at this time.
Cricket Scandal is a film about cricket controversies in India’s major cricket league, with subplots touching upon transsexual and gay romance, rather unusual for the Indian movie screen, which is used to displaying transgender/gay characters only as items to be laughed at or as evildoers. Now, getting the film to the screens is another huge step, which is financially intensive and beyond the reach of my nearly bankrupt producer, but we are trying hard in whatever ways we can to bring the film to the screens.
Monika: Looking ahead, do you have any new creative projects in the pipeline, or are you focused entirely on bringing Cricket Scandal to the public?
Rose: I am simply waiting for the right circumstances to get Cricket Scandal out, and based on its success, I may roll out the other projects that I have mentally planned.
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Rose Venkatesan first transgender filmmaker- Match Fixing Source: Red Pix Alpha. |
Monika: During your transition, did you have any transgender role models, either in India or abroad, who inspired or guided you on your journey?
Rose: Not many Indian ones. I used the Internet to do a lot of research about HRT and surgery. I found Thailand to be the best option to get my final surgery, which I saved for and eventually did in March 2010.
Monika: Coming out can be an incredibly complex and emotional process. Looking back, what aspects of it were most difficult for you on a personal and social level?
Rose: The hardest for me was, of course, deciding that I was indeed a woman in the wrong body and coming to terms with that fact myself. Equally though: the constant unwanted attention, the constant stares while out in public, the constant nagging from family, the constant pressure from family to marry a woman and be a normal man, the constant sexual advances in the most annoying of ways by men, the constant view-with-fear that women seemed to put out vis-à-vis me, the constant media and social caricaturing of transsexuals as only cheap sex objects, worthless humans, etc.
Monika: How do you view the current state of transgender rights and visibility in Indian society today?
Rose: India is changing rapidly, thanks to the Internet. This change is not only within the LGBT movement. India is evolving fast in every human rights area, and perspectives on sexuality are changing quickly to be more accommodating of all expressions of human sexuality. The old is fast losing ground, but it is attacking with its own intense vigor, yet it’s sure to lose out.
However, challenges remain, especially in rural areas where traditional mindsets still dominate. Legal progress, like the recognition of transgender rights, is a step forward, but societal acceptance often lags behind. Media representation is slowly improving, giving transgender people a voice and visibility previously denied. Activism is becoming more organized and widespread, connecting communities across states and backgrounds. Education about gender diversity is beginning to enter schools and workplaces, fostering understanding among younger generations. Despite setbacks, the resilience of the transgender community fuels hope for a more inclusive future.
Monika: Do you think the fight for transgender equality represents the next major chapter in the global human rights movement?
Rose: Of course. Trans people, especially trans women, are a big boost to women’s rights and sexual rights movements, because they are very bold in India, they haven’t got anything more to lose. Their courage challenges deeply ingrained social norms and forces society to confront uncomfortable truths. Fighting for transgender equality also highlights the intersectionality of oppression, how gender, caste, class, and sexuality overlap in discriminatory ways. This movement pushes for broader acceptance, not just legal rights but social dignity and safety. It inspires younger generations to live authentically despite harsh backlash. Ultimately, transgender rights are human rights, and advancing them benefits all marginalized communities worldwide.
Monika: Back in 2012, you announced plans to launch a political party called The Sexual Liberation Party of India, aiming to promote sexual freedom and advocate for the rights of women and the LGBT community. How did that initiative unfold?
Rose: Nope, in reality, for a variety of reasons, obviously to do with the political alignments of existing media and the inability to secure funds for mobilization on my part. But it was a political statement, and I sense the possibility for its revival and mass acceptance is in the air.
Monika: In your view, what kind of impact could transgender women have if they were more widely represented in political leadership?
Rose: Oh yes! Sexuality will be celebrated in this sexually repressive country if transgender women come to power.
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Cricket Scandal Movie music production behind the scenes. Source: YouTube. |
Monika: Love can be complicated for anyone, but how has love played a role in your life as a transgender woman navigating relationships in India?
Rose: I am a serial dater. It’s because most Indian men are social slaves, but most Indian women want to love transgender women more than most men, but only secretly. The ones that I do find interesting end up ruining the relationship either because they cheat on me or because they want to keep the relationship a secret, which I have grown to hate too much. But I date and love one nice man at a time, even if it’s just for a day, and if he fails I move on to the next nice man in the block. Actually, I am surrounded by love, but scared men.
Monika: How do you feel about fashion? What styles or types of outfits do you usually prefer? Are there any particular designers, colors, or trends that inspire you?
Rose: I love fashion at times. I love designing myself, love wearing tailor-made clothes that hug the curves and align perfectly around them. But half the time I couldn’t care less about what I wear. It’s more of a pendulum moving half the time into fashion and the rest of the time into total simplicity.
Monika: What is your opinion on transgender beauty pageants and their role in society?
Rose: Boring! Inducing the sick consumerist, perfection-manic mindset that is so cliché with women, as it is. I hate beauty pageants, as it is, for me. I hate all competitions among humans. The competitive mindset that we have all been trained and indoctrinated to adopt is the reason transgender people have been dumped outside society, forced to survive, and abused all the time. Humanity has to collaborate, not compete.
Monika: Many transgender women choose to write memoirs about their lives. Have you ever considered writing a book yourself?
Rose: I pour out my views and emotions on Facebook. I did want to write books too, an autobiography and at least one other, titled Sexual Hypocrisy in India. Writing a book requires a lot of time and focus, which has been challenging with my other commitments. But I believe sharing personal stories can help break stereotypes and open minds. Maybe someday, when the time is right, I will bring those projects to life.
Monika: What advice would you give to transgender girls who dream of building a career like yours?
Rose: I It takes a lot of self-love, hard work, patience, fitness and beauty consciousness, a long-term positive attitude, and great manners too. A pleasant personality is a plus. Feeling low about oneself because of a trans identity is a no-no for an achiever.
Monika: Rose, thank you for the interview!
Rose: Thank you for your work for the transgender community.
All the photos: courtesy of Rose Venkatesan.
© 2014 - Monika Kowalska
