In journalist-turned-filmmaker Anjana George’s short film Binary Error, the key character of Anirudh played by debutant Adam Harry says that his mother did not have the courage to accept her son as a transgender person. He has used the script of his own life as a transman for his character in the film.
The 23-year-old transgender trainee-pilot recently hit headlines after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) requested him to submit a new application for medical assessment required for further training to become an airline pilot, two years after he was told that the hormone therapy he was undergoing for gender transition rendered him unfit to fly.
“I wrote the dialogues for my character to make sure that the perspective was right. As a transman, I had faced similar bullying and harassment from various quarters,” he says.
The film features Mr. Harry as a transman struggling to find a space in his family. “I could easily relate to the character as we continue to face social stigma and discrimination,” he says.
The short film was produced under the banner ‘Nerambokku’, a YouTube channel helmed by filmmaker Midhun Manuel Thomas to support budding filmmakers. Ms. George says the film is dedicated to people belonging to gender minorities, who have lost their lives fighting against the systemic gender norms. “While we argue that bringing political correctness, queerness and being empathetic to mental health struggles are a hindrance to creative freedom, I felt it is important to have a practical experience. I assure that people who walked into this project with deep-rooted transphobia have returned with a whole new understanding on gender,” she says.
