HindustanTimes.com
Do not make the mistake of thinking that Santosh Sivan the cinematographer is almost a thing of the past as the director in him has been more in evidence of late. Though he continues to be part of mega projects like Paul Berges’ Mistress of Spices, it is in the films like Navarasa that the sharp, perceptive eye emerges, and he combines his two roles best. Suman Tarafdar caught up with him at Cinefan 2005, where his latest film premiered on Sunday.
A film on transgender people. That’s an unusual subject. Why this?
Well, we always talk of being doing more for causes. There has been a lot of sympathy expressed for transgender people, but we have done very little for them. I wanted to create more empathy towards the ‘third’ gender, to give them a chance.
What were the chances?
They have done all the roles depicting transgender people. This film has given them a platform to act – and now some of them are seriously considering acting as an option to earn a living. As a character in the film says, “for us life itself is a struggle.”