Project Detail

India's 1st Best Trans Model Agency

Synopsis

This emotionally charged journey, filmed over seven years, follows the extraordinary story of Rudrani Chettri and her friends from baby blessings, red light districts and dazzling Hindu festivals to the glamorous world of photoshoots, designers, hair and make-up, lights and electrifying action. We discover the transgender trans - Hijra community of Delhi as they set about creating India’s first ever trans modelling agency and an extravagant, paradigm-shifting, catwalk event.
Far from a bleak story of suffering and discrimination, this film explores the world of India’s ‘third gender’ (Hijra) in a positive way, full of laughter, drama, excitement, and pathos. We discover a complex world where traditional Hindu values clash with modern human rights. We immerse ourselves in unfamiliar places but find identifiable stories of love and loss, hope and poverty, beauty, glamour, and catwalk glory.
Official selection BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival 2024 - UK premiere

Details

Year
2024
Type of film
Features
Running time
80 min
Format
1080 - 1920
Director
Ila Mehrotra 1st Feature
Producer
Edward Dallal
Executive Producer
Andrè Singer, Sonja Henrici, Edward Dallal, Kimberley Warner
Editor
Cassandra Roberts, Vera Simmonds
Screenwriter
Ila Mehrotra
Director of Photography
Ila Mehrotra
Music
Kate Havenik, Harpreet Bansal
Principal cast
Rudrani Chettri, Chandini, Laxmi Narayan Tripathi

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

UK, India, Norway co-production Supported by Ffilm Cymru Wales

Mattima Films (NO), Mixed Media Films (IN), Penbryn Films (UK), Spring Films (UK)

Spring Films

7 Cavendish Square
London
W1G 0PE

Penbryn Films

Ysgubor Glascoed
Rhydlewis
Llandysul
Ceredigion
Wales
SA44 5SP

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Spacewoman Spacewoman

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle.<br /> Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all.<br /> At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? <br /> This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. <br /> Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere<br /> Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

What About Gary? What About Gary?

Director: Tristan M Copeland

Year: 2025

WHAT ABOUT GARY is a raw and emotive documentary that delves into the tragic consequences of misinformation, exploring how conspiracy theories led to the death of Gary Matthews from Covid-19. The film intimately portrays the profound grief of Gary's family and friends as they grapple with this senseless loss.<br /> Director Tristan Copeland, Gary's cousin, questions the purveyors of these falsehoods, driven by a need to understand why they ensnared Gary. Through vérité footage, archival materials, and Gary's own paintings, the film explores Gary’s descent into a distorted reality, seeking the root causes of his susceptibility to misinformation.<br /> Shot during the pandemic in Shrewsbury, England, WHAT ABOUT GARY captures the isolation that made many, including Gary, vulnerable to manipulation. With kinetic editing, evocative camera work, and a poignant score, the film examines how society failed to protect its citizens from misinformation.<br /> A potentially controversial yet vital work that questions how conspiracy theorists wield such influence and whether others can be saved from similar fates. A cautionary tale for a world grappling with truth in the digital age, and a tribute to a life tragically cut short, driven by a need to understand why.

Black is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story Black is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story

Director: Yemi Bamiro

Year: 2025

This film follows the growth of the Afrocentric Black is Beautiful movement of the 60s and 70s through the lens of Kwame Brathwaite, pioneering Harlem photographer and its unsung godfather. <br /> <br /> Kwame Brathwaite spent his life documenting black American history, photographing and befriending some of its biggest stars over his lifetime. He also founded grassroots fashion shows he called "Naturally" that celebrated natural black beauty and Afrocentrism in a time when it was deemed controversial, and heralded a new dawn for blackness across the globe.<br /> <br /> Forgotten by history until his son uncovered his vast archive of photos in the 2010s, the film covers the revival of Kwame's legacy in the last few years of his life. Family, friends and artistic admirers championed Kwame's work in a bid to put his name on the map before his passing in 2023. Kwame's story weaves together the story of the black experience, cultural icons and activism, taking a Forrest Gump journey through the biggest names and moments in American culture.