The Cross-Dressing Man And Indian Television

One of the most common sights seen in the film industry back in the days of the silent era was the cross-dressing man'. With time, cross dressing became quite a discreet affair, be it on television or in films. But these cross-dressing men have now returned to the limelight, this time on Indian television, in highly popular standup comedy shows and managed to grab quite a few eyeballs in the recent times. With the rising popularity of cross dressing characters like Gutthi, Palak and Dadi on Comedy Nights with Kapil, it seems like cross dressing is the new found gimmick' or the success mantra of comedy shows on Indian Television.

History bears abundant testimony of men dressing as women and playing female characters. That was an age when women were either not allowed or were themselves unwilling to come out of their homes and perform in front of the camera. Hence, men were forced to fill up the gaps by themselves donning the female attire.

Ritiesh Deshmukh in Apna Sapna Money Money

Over the years, throughout the 20th century - although such compulsions no longer drive their act - men have been seen to slip into the dresses of women, wear makeup and portray women- sometimes pretty and sometimes horrendous. Indian films too have had actors, some of the veteran ones that too, drape sarees and lehengas and portray some of the most memorable characters of all times. Shashi Kapoor in Shankar Dada, Shammi Kapoor in Bluffmaster, Kishore Kumar in Half Ticket, Amitabh Bachchan in Lawaaris, Rishi Kapoor in Rafoo Chakkar, Shah Rukh Khan in Duplicate, Kamal Hassan in Chachi 420, Aamir Khan in Baazi, Govinda in Anari, Aunty No.1andHadh Kar Di Apne and Riteish Deshmukh in Apna Sapna Money Moneyhave immortalized several memorable characters on the big screen throughout the hundred years of Indian Cinema. Some of those acts have worked wonders, while some have failed miserably. Most of them were meant to be for comic effects, and some were well contextualized, like in Chachi 420.

One important fact that goes along the instances of drag-acts in the history of Indian films is that these characters were important parts of the story and the cross dressing part was actually a necessary demand of the scripts. However, of late, in an age where female actors are available in abundance, the cross dressing Indian man has once again started to rule over the Indian television in female roles. And the TRP pullers of these shows are unquestionably the drag-acts.

"Cross-dressing is not a new phenomenon. It's been going on for centuries," says Dale Bhagwagar, Bollywood PR guru from Mumbai. "But doing something similar on contemporary television is neither an act of devotion nor disguise. It's simply a case of bringing novelty through laughter, for TVT ratings and to catch attention of the public at large. Basically, it's a publicity stunt! And it's worked," he adds.

Be it Krushna Abhishek, who has probably played more female characters than male in the long running Comedy Circus series on Sony TV, or the platoon of cross-dressers in the most watched Comedy Nights with Kapil on Colors TV, men are seen to be more and more comfortable fitting into the skin of a woman in recent times. There is no hesitation, neither the slightest inhibition nor the sign of discomfort or the fear of being tagged unmanly'. Ali Asgar as the crazy old Dadi in Comedy Nights with Kapil, has gone so deep into the character that the audience has almost started forgetting that he is actually a man beneath. The character of Gutthi' on the same show, played by Sunil Grover has become so popular that on his exit from the show, the producers were forced to replace him with another similar cross-dressing character- Dulari played by Gaurav Gera. However, Grover's Gutthi had created such a stir that Gera, who is otherwise known for his various iconic stints as cross-dressing characters like Mrs. Pammi Pyarelal, Malti Manohar Mishra, could not match up to Grover's popularity, and was soon discontinued.

Interestingly, after exiting from Kapil's show, Sunil Grover is now all set to launch his own comedy show titled Mad in India' on Star Plus; this time as a new cross-dressing character named Chutki'.