Sameer Tewari’s Baapya is about a woman who returns to her village in the Konkan as a man. The gender reassignment surgery that has transformed Shailaja into Shailesh shocks Shailaja’s ex-husband Anya, their son Sanjya, Anya’s second wife and the rest of the community.
The Marathi-language movie, starring Sacred Games alum Rajshri Deshpande and Girish Kulkarni, will be out on May 15 in cinemas. The cast includes Shrikant Yadav, Devika Daftardar and Aaryan Menghji.
Baapya, based on an idea by Priti Nair, is a rare film with a trans man as a lead character. For Rajshri Deshpande, who plays both Shailaja and Shailesh, it was vital to be in Baapya, given the overall prejudice about trans identity and the conversations about the recent Transgender Persons Protection of Rights Amendment Bill.
“I have watched films on trans women but I don’t remember a film about a trans man, about what a woman goes through, how she wants to get out of her body, what the mindset of people is like,” Deshpande told Scroll. “I spoke to a few trans men and people from the community. When I realised that the story of Baapya was through a sensitive and sensible lens, I decided to be a part of it.”
Apart from appearing in films and series, among them S Durga, Trial by Fire, Satyashodhak and Black Warrant, Deshpande founded the non-profit Nabhangan Foundation in 2018. “Social work is part of my life,” she said. “At the end of the day, the decision [to pick a project] has to be personal. My art has to be part of the social system, part of everything.”
Girish Kulkarni, who plays Anya, was equally excited with the project. Anya is a good-natured fisherman who has loved Shailaja since childhood. But Anya’s feelings for Shailaja are complicated by her transition into Shailesh, as well the question of their son’s anger over the situation.
A writer and director as well as an actor, Kulkarni has been in a host of Hindi and Marathi productions, including Valu (which he co-wrote with director Umesh Kulkarni), Gabaricha Paus, Deool, Ugly, Jaundya Na Balasaheb and Matka King.
Kulkarni had previously been in Sameer Tewari’s web series Lalla. “We had a good rapport, and when he told me about Baapya, I knew that the subject was very important and necessary,” Kulkarni said.
The original script was in a lighter vein than the finished film, which balances humour with gravitas.
“The seriousness of the theme wasn’t coming through,” Kulkarni recalled. “This is something that many people have heard about, but very few have personally experienced. So it was very important to be responsible and get it right. I communicated this to Sameer. Fortunately, he agreed, and the script was worked upon.”
Another important change was in Anya’s character. “He was initially darker, more of a chauvinist,” Kulkarni said. “There are such people in the world, but there are open-minded people too, who define masculinity differently. I felt that we needed to identify with Anya as well as sympathise with and understand every character’s perspective to make the journey from denial to acceptance more rounded.”
Baapya was developed over two years. “There were times when we wondered if the film would ever be made,” Kulkarni said. Sameer Tewari persevered with the project, also ensuring credit for the many writers who contributed to the script, Kulkarni said.
During the shoot, Deshpande and Kulkarni closely followed their respective character arcs. Shailaja is restless, while Shailesh is more restrained. Deshpande, who recently announced a breast cancer diagnosis, pointed to the physical and psychological changes produced by hormonal therapy and treatment.
“As a child, Shailaja’s life is complex – although she’s surrounded by people who love her, they are unable to understand what’s going on within her,” Deshpande pointed out. “The awareness about what she wants or why she behaves in a particular way isn’t there. There’s a lot of chaos within her, about belonging, dignity and individuality. Once the transition happens, Shailesh can breathe. He is composed because he has found what he is looking for.”
Anya is chaotic too, in his own way. He is unable to grasp Shailesh’s motivations, while also hankering back to his memories of Shailaja.
Kulkarni improvised the dialogue in several scenes, including the ones in which Anya is sloshed.
“That isn’t my achievement alone – Sameer created the atmosphere where everybody wanted to excel and be truthful to the moment,” Kulkarni said. “Sameer filmed the scenes in such a way that the characters could relax, rather than just going over the lines. The movie doesn’t have literary or ornamental dialogue, just ordinary observations that are moving.”
Kulkarni also found that Anya’s shifting relationship with Shailaja/Shailesh leached into his performance.
“When Anya is with Shailaja, the scenes are light-hearted and humorous, but when Anya has to be with Shailesh, a strange mood of tension took over me,” Kulkarni recalled. “I wouldn’t look at Rajshri or talk to her between scenes. I gave her a bit of a tough time. Then, as Anya accepts Shailesh, I started warming to Rajshri too.”
The significance of a film like Baapya cannot be understated, both actors said.
“At one point, Anya tells Shailesh that he is sick, but this isn’t an illness,” Deshpande said. “ Shailesh tells Anya, accept me the way I am.”
Baapya upends expectations about parenting too. Shailaja is accused of being a negligent mother. Anya takes on the role of both parents.
“A father is also a mother, while a mother can be a father too,” Deshpande observed. “It was very natural to carry both realities within my character.”
Kulkarni pointed to the film’s larger message, about empathy towards alternate points of view.
“We have too many differences amongst ourselves, which leads to intolerance and discrimination,” Kulkarni said. “How can we open our hearts, how can we accept others? It is there in the soil of India, but it needs to be brought out more through our storytelling. At a time when we are being polarised by technology and capital, and politics is benefitting from this polarisation, we are trying to talk about love and humanity.”
Also read:
Why Marathi films are all the rage again – and why this wave could last
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