Trinetra Haldar Exclusive: "Someone Told Me They Don't See Me As A Woman, But A Transwoman. So..."

NDTV

a day ago

Trinetra Haldar rose to fame with her acting debut in the Amazon Prime Original Made In Heaven Season 2 (2023). She is one of India's first transwomen to digitally document her medico-socio-legal transition from male to female.
After two years of her debut, she is back on OTT with her new show Kankhajura. The show drops on SonyLIV today.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Trinetra talks about how life has been after Made In Heaven 2, her thoughts on actors undergoing surgeries, and her "life has come full circle" moment with Roshan Mathew.
In the series Kankhajura, Trinetra Haldar plays a transwoman, Aimee.
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We ask if all the roles she has been offered so far are that of a transwoman, or have other roles too come her way.
Trinetra says, "I am not committed to playing only trans characters on screen. I am an actor. I want to tell stories. Period."
Talking about the process of getting diverse roles, Trinetra tells NDTV, "I am not successful enough to be offered parts readily. I have given auditions so far. But I take my auditions very seriously. I am very proud to say that people in the industry are opening up to the idea of casting more trans people. Honestly, characters are beyond genders. We are not mere males and females. The joy of being an actor lies in telling stories; stories about rich and layered lives."
Trinetra is ready to take up roles beyond trans characters. Does the industry show the same zeal?
The actor lets us in on the most awkward comment she has received on that front.
"A person recently said, 'I don't see you as a woman, but as a trans woman. I feel you'll only play trans parts in your entire life," says Trinetra, without revealing whether the person is a director, actor or producer.
Trinetra's Transition vs Actors' Cosmetic Surgeries
In 2024, when there was a strong buzz over Rajkummar Rao's facial transformation, Trinetra shared a post on Instagram.
An excerpt from the post read, "An actor was recently trolled into sheepishly admitting he had chin filler, and a topper was trolled for (not doing anything about) her facial hair in the face of obvious academic merit. Screwed if you do, screwed if you don't, clearly. There is only this one body, this one life. If there is gender dysphoria, it has to be dealt with."
We ask what her thoughts are on actors like Khushi Kapoor or Shruti Haasan, who have openly talked about their cosmetic surgeries.
"I can't speak for other people. For me, as a transwoman, the journey is very unique. Everything I have undergone in my personal medical journey has been related to my transition," says Trinetra.
"I haven't done anything just because a casting director asked me to do it. I have never taken any step in my personal life or transition for this career. It, my transition journey, was always for my self.
"My transition was to align my gender identity with my body. Because, unfortunately, I was not blessed with womanhood when I was born. I had to create it from the scratch.
"I feel it's people's choice if they want to talk about their transformations or not. I have always been transparent about my journey," sums up Trinetra.
Trinetra's Moment With Roshan Mathew
In the series Kankhajura, Trinetra plays Roshan Mathew's love interest.
Trinetra, who's a great admirer of Roshan's work, right from her medicine days, tells NDTV, "I watched his film Moothon (2020) when I was studying medicine. My Made In Heaven co-stars Shashank Arora and Sobhita Dhulipala were also a part of that film. So, it's like a life-has-come-full-circle moment for me. In that film, Roshan plays a queer character. He said so much through his eyes. He brings a lot of energy to the sets."
Trinetra also shared a funny Instagram reel recently, where she is seen learning Malayalam from Roshan.
"I love to learn language. So, I kept on asking him what this word would be called in Malayalam," smiles Trinetra.
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Trinetra's new show, Kankhajura, is directed by Chandan Arora and produced by Ajay Rai. It also stars Roshan Mathew, Mohit Raina and Sarah Jane Dias in lead roles. The series is an official adaptation of the Israeli series, Magpie.