Alina Khan, the trans star of the award-winning and globally recognized movie ‘Joyland’ shares that she was heartbroken after the government of Pakistan decided to put a censor ban on the film a week before its release.
The movie is about a Pakistani man who falls in love with a trans person, however, the board has raised objection over its ‘highly objectional material’.
While half of the social media wants the movie to be released with a proper rating for those who want to watch the content, the other half supports the ban.
In the midst of this argument, Khan has shared that the trans community in the country is heartbroken over this decision. Moreover, she believes that this is the first major Pakistani motion picture with a trans actor in lead and should be owned proudly.
While giving an interview with The Guardian, she shared “I’ve been very sad. I don’t understand.” The 24-year-old added: “The Pakistani trans community was also very upset.”
Alina Khan also talked about her character Biba, and how this character has become a role model for her. She shared:
“She’s a badass, strong-willed, fiercely independent, dominating, outspoken woman, everything that I am not; I loved the role I played,” said Khan. When she was offered the role, she was relieved not to play an “oppressed” character “which is the life for most transgenders in Pakistan”.
Khan said she was rejected by her family when she came out as trans. “My family did not accept me, but neither did society.” She was told she embarrassed relatives, and her mother was constantly angry with her. “She would tell me not to make exaggerated hand gestures like a woman while talking, to sit like a boy and not be in the company of girls,” said Khan. Her siblings called her khusra – a derogatory term, which was originally used to refer to eunuchs but is also a slur against trans people. But as Khan said: “I had never met a transgender [person] in my life so did not know what they were like.”
‘My own brother would lock me outside the house’ Trans Actor Alina Khan
“Tears were trickling down my face while I continued smiling. I don’t know whether the tears were of joy, were for all the hard work that I put in, or for my struggles since I was a child and that continue,” said Khan, who made her screen debut in the short film Darling in 2019. “For the first time in my life, I felt my talent preceded my gender, I was given so much respect.”
After such international success, her family welcomed her with open arms. “They accepted me finally. They realised that I was not earning by begging or doing sex work,” she concluded.
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