Varanasi actor living with eunuchs for a real-life experience

Rahul Sengri, an actor from Varanasi, who is to perform in a film based on the lives of eunuchs as its protagonist, is residing with eunuchs for a real-life experience.

By Girish Kumar Dubey

Varanasi, Aug.16 : Rahul Sengri, an actor from Varanasi, who is to perform in a film based on the lives of eunuchs as its protagonist, is residing with eunuchs for a real-life experience.

Rahul has already spent three days residing with the eunuchs here for getting an insight of their lives and learn various styles typical to them.

"These three days I have lived a kind of life that nobody in their wildest dreams would ever have thought of leading, a life that I would never have thought I would live either. When I got this film, I spent one full-year with eunuchs to get trained under them. I got an insight into their lives and the kind of problems they face," said Rahul.

He added that his family and friends ridiculed him for taking up the role.

Wearing a heavy make-up and dressed in a peach-coloured sari with goldenorder, Rahul Sengri walked the streets of Varanasi, singing and dancing with the city's eunuchs as he prepared to get under the skin of the character.

Rahul had also spent some time in their company in Jaipur to get a better insight into the lives of the community.

The film "Adhuri Khwaish" (Unfulfilled Desire) is being produced with the contributions made by eunuchs living in different parts of the country. Earlier, all attempts failed to get the film sponsored by any film producer from the Bollywood.

It will cost five million rupees.

Bindiya, a eunuch under whom Rahul is an understudy, said: "I am training him in our body language and the way we speak."

Gaurav Tiwari, director of the film says that his aim is to depict the sufferings and hardships of the eunuchs by delving deep into their lives.

Tiwari said: "In my film I have portrayed a eunuch's life from childhood to adulthood, which most people are not aware of. I have also tried to bring out the sufferings in their lives."

Eunuchs or "Hijras" as they are generally called in local parlance, dance and sing on happy occasions like weddings or baptizing ceremony of any newborn. They usually come uninvited and their arrival is considered auspicious.

Eunuchs are mainly castrated men or transvestites. Discarded by society, they live on the margins of society, facing discrimination.

As in much of the world, transsexuals in India often do not fit easily into society, and must put up with harassment and a legal system that criminalizes homosexual acts.

But a handful of them have also been elected to public office on various occasions.

ANI