Interview with Namitha Marimuthu

Monika: Today I have invited an inspirational woman from India. Namitha Marimuthu is a top model, artist, beauty pageant queen, actress, and transgender activist. She was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She is Miss Trans Queen India 2018, Miss Trans Star International 2019, and Pageant Director of Miss Trans Star India 2021. Namitha is also known for her role of Priya in Naadodigal 2 by Samuthirakani (2020). Hello Namitha!

Namitha: Monika, you have given me an amazing introduction. Lots of love to you, Sister. 

Monika: How are you doing these crazy pandemic times?

Namitha: I’m really scared for India right now. We are in the top two of all countries in the world with the Covid-19 crisis today. We have been experiencing many deaths and such a loss for families and friends. We will still survive and I request each of you to get tested before vaccination. And please get vaccinated along with your family and friends. Stay home, stay safe India. 

Monika: It is always fascinating for me to talk to sisters from different continents, especially so talented as yourself. How did you start modeling?

Namitha: Initially I was really a lost person with no real meaning in life, especially after getting a legal separation from my parents when I was 19. Furthermore, when I reached adulthood, my weight was 120 kg. I started working out really hard to make a real transformation. After 2 years of hard work I lost more than 60kg!

Interview with Bishesh Huirem

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Bishesh Huirem, an Indian model and beauty pageant queen. Hello Bishesh, you look absolutely beautiful!

Bishesh: Hello Monika! Thank you so much for this compliment and opportunity to share my story with the readers of your blog.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Bishesh: I am Bishesh Huirem. I am a transgender woman who follows her dream, yet being simple, frank, and enthusiastic.

Interview with Tista Das

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Tista Das, who is an Indian actress, social activist, transgender advocate, and icon of empowerment and choice for the transgender community in India. Hello Tista!

Tista: Hello Monika.

Monika: When did you decide to pursue an acting career?
Tista: I wanted to pursue a career in acting from my childhood days. While viewing a movie, there were quite a number of occasions in which I fantasized about myself with on-screen heroines like Suchitra Sen or Sharmila Tagore. I used to imitate them, like the way they pout or walk or look at heroes.

Interview with Kalki Subramaniam

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Kalki Subramaniam, a transgender rights activist from India, actress, entrepreneur, the founder of Sahodari Foundation, an organization working for the social, economic and political empowerment of transgender persons in India, and the editor of the English book titled ‘Law Beyond Gender’. Hello Kalki!

Kalki: Greetings Monika. It is a pleasure to know you.

Monika: For many years you have been involved in the legal rights campaign for recognising transgender people in India. Could you say a few words about them?
Kalki: In the Indian constitution, the fundamental rights under part III are enforceable human rights guaranteed to all citizens of this country, whether men, women or transgender people. We, transgender people, however are discriminated in the society because of our gender identity. Only legal recognition can assure our rights. The state has to come up with policies that protect transgender people and initiate measures to empower us.
On that line, I have been sensitizing the judiciary of this country for a better understanding of transgender people’s lives, the issues and problems we face in the society. These campaigns being done along with other transgender rights activists, will bring tremendous changes in the near future.

Interview with Aneesh Sheth

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Aneesh Sheth, a young Indian-American actress and transgender activist, an Advocate Magazine's 40 Under 40 list honoree, known for her roles in "Outsourced" (2011), "My Inner Turmoil" (2011), and "Arbore" (2012). Hello Aneesh!

Aneesh: Hi Monika! Thank you so much for this honor!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Aneesh: Sure! I am an actress and activist originally from New York City. In 2010, I made my way to the West Coast, first in San Francisco and then to Seattle in November of 2013, where I currently reside.

Monika: When did you decide to pursue an acting career?

Aneesh: I was lucky enough to have parents that were very supportive of the arts, and to live in New York where there is an abundance of it. Ever since I was very little, my parents took me to see lots of theatre and opera and somehow I got bit by the bug.

I think I was cast in my first show at age 7, and just continued my journey in theatre and film from there. When I was ready to leave for college, I made the choice to pursue a career in acting and I was very lucky to have supportive parents who encouraged me to pursue my dream.

Interview with Living Smile Vidya

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Living Smile Vidya known as Smiley, an inspirational woman from India, actress, film director, the author of the biography titled "I am Saravanan Vidya" (2008), a transgender activist and blogger, recipient of the British Council-Charles Wallace India Trust fellowship to study theater in UK. Hello Smiley! 

Smiley: Hi, it’s my honour to be in your list.
Monika: So, You pursue your career in theatre and cinema. You worked as an assistant director in Kollywood and acted in Tamil theater. Could you say a few words about your movie and theater career?
Smiley: Well, Theatre is always my first love. When I was 19 years old, I decided to be an actress and while doing my post-graduation at university I spent most of the time in the Theater Department rather than my Linguistics Department. So I was able to do a couple of plays. But at that time I was known to my colleagues and classmates as a boy.
After my post-graduation, I went to Pune for my castration and I had to stay there. Once I came back I was challenged to find a mainstream job, and after a long struggle I found a job in a rural bank. And only then I realized that I was the first Transwoman in India who worked in a mainstream job rather than working for NGOs.
Beyond this I wanted to work in theater but I realized that all my friends in theater were not sure how to handle a transwoman as an actress. That was when my autobiography was released and I became quite famous, so some film directors heard about me.

Interview with Rose Venkatesan

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Rose Venkatesan, an Indian talk show host and celebrity, filmmaker, politician, and transgender activist. She was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Rose made her television debut in the talk show Ippadikku Rose (Yours truly, Rose) and continued her TV career in the show Idhu Rose Neram (This is Rose Time). In 2011, she became a Radio Jockey at BIG FM 92.7. Hello Rose!

Rose: Hello Monika!

Monika: Rose, having so many talents, which fields you are most interested in: talk show hosting, radio, film making, politics, transgender activism, or maybe something different?

Rose: 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/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/expel. The entertainment industry/politics in India is highly sexploitative of women and any transwomen that might want to make it up the ladder.