Shikhandi is perhaps one of the earliest transgender characters known in history/mythology. She appears in the Mahabharata and plays a crucial part in winning the battle of Kurukshetra for the Pandavas. Shikhandi was meant to be born male to avenge an insult in her past life as Amba b ut the bigger karmic game unfolds when she is reborn female, raised male, has a sex change on her wedding night when she runs away to the forest (thanks to a Yaksha), and finally fulfills her destiny – to be the cause of Bhishma’s death.
A comic, tongue-in-cheek, retelling of the story of Shikhandi, mixing traditional Indian storytelling and contemporary English verse, and questioning gender, sexuality, maleness, femaleness and everything in between, the play was runner-up at the Sultan Padamsee Playwriting Awards 2016.
Written and directed by Faezeh Jalali the play stars MeherAcharia-Dar, Mahnaz Damania, Vikrant Dhote, Karan Desai, Nikhil Murali, Srishti Srivastava, Nakul Bhalla/Tushar Pandey and Kartavya Anthwaal Sharma/ Abhishek Chauhan and is restricted to adult audience.
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