‘Its like therapy’: Transgender, queer actors hail filmmaker Faraz Arif Ansari’s free acting workshop for LGBTQ artistes
Faraz Arif Ansari shares his thoughts behind organising the free acting workshop for the transgender and queer community.
Riya Sharma
Faraz Arif Ansari, who is all set to entertain the audience with his feature film, Bun Tikki, recently held the third edition of his acting workshop for queer actors called TRANSaction, the workshop was held in collaboration with the Keshav Suri Foundation in Delhi. The filmmaker said he aims to give the LGBTQ community a chance to improve their acting skills, and explore the creative field under his guidance.
The three-day workshop had several talented, experienced personalities as speakers and mentors, ranging from celebrity fashion stylists to acting coaches and motivational speakers like Akshay Bhave, celebrity designer Nafisa Rachel William, acting coach Puneet Singh Dehran, and Urvashi Kaur among others. The third day had Anas Khan and Akshay Tyagi (celebrity stylist and brand consultant) talking about their experiences in the industry and solving some of the queries of the participants. Choreographer Bhavini Mishra held a super energetic dance session for the participants teaching them a way to express their emotions.
Talking about the idea behind the free workshop for the transgender and queer community, Faraz Ansari told us, “Every time a person wanted to cast a trans actor, they said that there are no trans actors and I said no, there are trans actors but they have never been given the opportunity. Keshav Suri and I were having a conversation that we talk about inclusion all the time, but how much of it are we doing he said then do something about it. Then I said, I would love to put my money where my mind is and do something for the trans community. Where they are given the skills to learn acting so that they can consider the far thought of acting as a career and this is how TRANSaction was born.”
When asked about the feeling of being a mentor to a bunch of youngsters, whom they look up to, Faraz said, “To be honest, it’s very overwhelming and scary. Overwhelming for all the right reasons but scary because it puts so much responsibility on you. And I keep reminding people that I am just a medium but I won’t be able to help do things for you.”
When asked about their experience participating in the workshop, the participants called it a safe place, almost like therapy. India’s first international trans beauty queen, Naaz Joshi, who was also a participant in the workshop, said, “This is my fourth workshop with Faraz, and first of all this is a very safe space. We are meeting a lot of queer people and we are learning a lot from Faraz. He is a brilliant director and brilliant coach and we are having fun.”
Another transwoman Hansani talked about how the workshop made her confident and said, “This is my first TRANSaction workshop, I was nervous and I met a lot of new people here. But when I met Faraz and all the peer groups here. That made me stronger. It build my confidence. The first day I got a topic and it triggered me but Faraz made me confident. Our teacher, coach is believing in us.”
Princess, another transwoman who was a part of the workshop said, “This place is very nice. We feel very comfortable and we get a lot of emotions and it’s like therapy because we can connect with anyone and share our bad times and good times.”
Courtesy : DNA
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