Karpaga is an actress who made her debut in a Tamil movie called Paal. She is the first trans person ever in India to perform a leading role in a mainstream movie. [1] [2]
Karpaga was born in a middle-class family of Erode in western Tamil Nadu, an only child, and left home at 17 for Mumbai. Karpaga worked at a beauty parlour as a beautician after finishing schooling. After returning to her family, five years later, her family was shattered but eventually accepted her. [3] [4]
Historically, transgender people have been shown in a poor light in Indian movies. [5] Karpaga acts as an intellectual woman who has difficulty in revealing her identity to her lover. [5] The film stresses the need for families to accept transgender people. [5] [6]
In the Indian subcontinent, hijra are eunuchs, intersex people, or transgender people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as guru-chela system. They are also known as aravani, aruvani, and jogappa. The term is used in Pakistan as khawaja sira, the equivalent of transgender in the Urdu language.
Lee Kyung-eun, better known by her stage name Harisu, is a South Korean pop singer, model, and actress. In 2002 she became the second person in Korea to legally change their gender. Her stage name is an adaptation of the English phrase "hot issue".
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Anjali is an Indian actress and model who appears in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. Following a stint in modelling, she was cast in starring roles in two Telugu productions; her debut film was the Telugu thriller film Photo (2006). She then bagged a role and gained attention in the film Kattradhu Thamizh (2007) with Jiiva. In 2010 and 2011, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil, for her performances in Angaadi Theru and Engaeyum Eppothum, respectively, and the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Angadi Theru, subsequently recognised as one of the "finest young actors" in Tamil cinema, and noted for mostly playing "performance-oriented roles".
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