Gender Through the Lens: Community, Culture, Conversations

A book and a documentary film—how two projects that bind India and Bangladesh open a window into Southeast Asia’s trans communities and their evolving work, push for rights, and new means to love and live.

- By Upasana Das

When Bangladeshi photographer Shahria Sharmin travelled to India along with the Bangladeshi hijra community, she realised that the country provided them a greater sense of safety and social acceptance. For anyone who has grown up as part of various Southeast Asian cultures, they would be aware that the hijra community has a deep socio-cultural connect, defined as the ‘third’ gender, intersex, or often those who reject their masculine identity. Recalling how transwomen at one of Bangladesh’s many garment factories were not allowed to wear womenswear as the manager was afraid it would distract others and reduce productivity, Sharmin aimed to document the community’s stories, now collated in the photo book, Call Me Heena (2025).

Meanwhile, British-Bangladeshi designer and artist Rahemur Rahman, along with British filmmaker Lily Vetch, ventured into documenting the lives of three hijra women in Bangladesh, and it was made into a short film Body of Our Own (2026). Rahman’s film, which premiered at BFI Flare in March, will make its India debut at Kashish Pride Film Festival this June, adding to the dialogue for rights and recognition for legal change, which Rahman wants.

Here, we highlight the details and intricacies of both projects, even more pertinent in the light of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill 2026, which although recognises the hijra identity, threatens to break apart safe spaces that Bangladeshi immigrant hijra women have created for themselves in India and their support to young trans people. Passed this March, the law mandates a medical certification process for recognition of transgender individuals along with narrowing the definition of the community itself, undermining the process of self-identification.

RAHMAN’S ENCOUNTERS

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