Ek Aasha review: Delves deep into the lives of transgender community

Halting a vehicle at traffic signals in India often brings one face-to-face with eunuchs who demand money in their own peculiar way. Similarly, shop owners too have to deal with them regularly. Some of us shoo them away while there are others who pay them some amount either out of fear or just to get rid of them. Also, many of us find them irritating. 

Eunuchs or transgenders have been explored in Hindi cinema to some degree, as supporting characters. But there has hardly been a film dedicated solely to them and one that delves deep into their lives and psyche right from their childhood. Director Mayur Katariya’s Ek Aasha is that rare film. 

These eunuchs appear as strong or blunt individuals who show indifference if someone doesn’t agree to pay them and move ahead. But at the end of the day, they too are humans. Hence, they are not just a mass of flesh and bones but possess various emotions like other ‘normal’ human beings.

Aashish (Disha Yadav) is also one of them. He faces disgust from his uneducated parents right from his childhood for being born differently. He regularly gets bullied in school. Coming from a traditional family of priests from a small town in Gujarat, his parents feel a mixture of shock and anger seeing Ashish behave and carry himself the way only girls are supposed to do. 

Katariya’s mature handling of such a sensitive subject slowly gets you involved emotionally with the tale. Aashish instantly gets your sympathy since he is made to feel guilty without any fault. On the other hand, with the acceptance of the third gender being next to nil, even among the educated class, it’s impossible for Aashish’s parents to feel normal about their son. Hence, you feel for both parties. 

Ek Aasha goes onto the next gear by focusing on what happens to such kids when they grow up. Some of us too must have wondered about the families of transgenders we see at signals, local trains or during auspicious occasions. The film shows that they start mingling with people born with similar conditions and eventually start staying with them under one roof after leaving their families.

Similarly, Aashish finds solace in Guru Ma, the head of the group of eunuchs from his town, and moves in with them leaving his parents with mixed emotions. This is how Aashish becomes Aasha. She now acquires a motto in life – to bless newlyweds or newly born since they believe that Lord Rama has given them the power to give boon or bane. 

The film also dares to go into disturbing territories without making you feel so. For example, the sex reassignment surgery of Aashish and his friend and the rape angle. Katariya achieves this in a subtle yet realistic way. But he ensures that the film doesn’t give a feel of a documentary or a docu-drama. 

After a point of time, one stops looking at these characters as transgenders. They are like any other human being who is neglected by society, including their own parents, but determined to live a dignified and happy life. 

The performance of Disha Yadav plays a major part in our feelings for Aashish or Aasha. We see her throughout the film expressing merely through expressions and slight gestures. There are times when she appears emotion-less but that appears to have been deliberate. Vijya Laxmi, who plays Aashish’s friend Saajan who goes onto becoming Sajni, also keeps her performance graph high. 

Amidst this, there are few areas of concern. During the starting portions, the narrative takes a leap of 10 years during which Ashish transforms from a child to a teenager. Hence, we are not given the complete picture of what he faced while growing up during this crucial period, especially considering how he was bullied while he was in primary school. The low production values are also felt quite a few times. 

A major reason why Ek Aasha oozes realism throughout is that the makers have cast real transgenders, who are non-actors, for the supporting roles. Annu Akade, as Guru Ma, and the rest of them succeed in being effortless, just like the film itself. 

Ek Aasha was screened at the 2019 LIFFT India Filmotsav in Lonavala.