Nandini Sabban is a multifaceted individual living in Maharashtra, India, who is known for her impactful work both in the film industry and as an advocate for the transgender community. Mikail Khan speaks to Nandini about how hijras and kinnars have been villainized and largely disposed of by our cishet and contemporary transgender communities in India. The episode also talks about genuine inclusion-based efforts that society can extend to hijra communities as well as the impossible beauty standards that hijras and trans women have to uphold within the Bollywood and independent film industries.

TRANS/NATIONAL is raising funds for Nandini's gender-affirming procedures. Please consider making a Venmo donation to @transnationalcollab to support this endeavor. All receipts of wiring the funds to Nandini will be transparently shared for those who request it.

Born into a Dalit family from Karnataka, Chandini Gagana is a prolific writer, poet, orator and trans rights activist. She is the founder of Payana, an organization dedicated to working for the rights and safety of sexual minorities. Mikail Khan speaks to Chandini about her life journey and her relentless struggle for trans rights and the need to address gender, caste, and class within the broader transgender and social justice movements.

Ani Dutta (they, she) is a nobinary transfemme kothi person who is an Associate Professor of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. Dutta also works as a volunteer and advisor with several collectives of trans and gender non-conforming communities such as kothis and hijras in eastern India. Mikail Khan speaks to Ani about how the 2024 Lok Sabha Indian elections are coopting transgender and kothi people within the Brahminical and Hindutva state-building project and how hijraphobia and false claims of 'Hinduphobia' are impacting movements for trans liberation in India and rest of South Asia.