“If I am around you and your manhood is attacked, then your manhood is fragile,” said Sushant Divgikar, an Indian artist with a charming personality and an unapologetic attitude. She seems unfazed by whatever the world has to babble about the LGBTQIA+ community.
Belittling transgender people, throwing hurls at the LGBTQIA+ community, and calling ourselves ‘normal’ is where we take pride. Despite several awareness campaigns, our society has failed to treat them fairly and with respect. But here is this transgender person, who despite all odds has showcased to the world that if you are true to yourself and love what you do, no one can stop you from being successful.
In a candid interview with HerZindagi, she opened up about how our society treats the LGBTQIA+ community, her achievements, and how people try to label or assign gender to everything. It is our small effort with the launch of our Living With Pride campaign to bring you stories of people who identify with the LGBTQIA+ community.
What Does Drag Mean?
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While speaking about her work, Divgikr said, “I slay every day.” She opened up about how she defines drag. She said, “Drag is a performance and art is very multi-disciplinary.”
Explaining the term, she said that a person can be a drag queen and sing, dance, or do comedy. One can combine all these acts to deliver an electrifying performance as well. Quoting artist RuPaul, she said, “We are all born naked, and the rest is a drag.”
She emphasised that drag is self-expression and requested people, “Do not assign gender to art.”
Sharing her experience, she said that when she performs everybody sings with her, but they look at her differently. “How am I different from you?” she asked. The drag queen also added that people connected with her because of her art. With the same mindset, she went on stage for her first drag performance. “There was no one else doing drag,” she added.
Divgikar also shared that she received death threats, but she takes pride in the fact that many political figures are investing in her and what she does.
After all that she has accomplished, she still experiences discrimination. “Don’t tell me to go to my default settings,” she said, adding that when she was in her ‘default settings’, she represented India and created many world records.
Not many know, but in 2014, Divgikar was crowned Mr Gay India. She participated in Bigg Boss 8 and stood among the top 15 contenders in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in 2018.
Equal Treatment Of Transgender Community
Speaking about the ill-treatment of the transgender community, she added that people often say, “Hijron ka khauf (Terror of the transgender community).” She explained that while people are fearful when transgender people clap, they are not at all terrified without claps. “Toh bajaie (So clap),” she added.
As a drag performer, she is known as Rani KoHEnur. She made headlines for walking the ramp and singing during an event. It was the first time when people saw a dazzling performance delivered by a drag queen in India.
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From that one performance to being a global icon, Divgikar’s journey has been ‘crazy’. She has received Emmy Nominations, made to the ‘Power List’ of RollingStone, and done so much to make the country proud.
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‘I Only Have Time For Love’
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Speaking about how she deals with hate, Divgikar said, “I don’t deal with hate at all.” She only has time for love. She defines pride as offering respect to all 'ancestors’ who used to identify with the transgender and LBTQIA+ communities and have fought for equality.
“We don’t want anything extra, we just want to be treated as human beings,” she added. Celebrating pride for her means acknowledging the struggles of the community and paying respect to everyone who has fought for them. She takes pride in her lineage and said, “I come from royalty.”
She takes pride in belonging to a culture that has references to ‘Shrikhandi’ and ‘Ardhnareshwar’ among others. She shared that when people tell her that identifying as a transgender person is unscientific, she gives them references, and asks them to get their facts straight.
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Divgikar’s advice to people is not to judge people at all. While adding that religion and gender identities do not matter, she said, “We don’t have time to judge, we are one.”
Stay tuned to HerZindagi for more.
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