‘Jagriti… Ek Udaan’, a musical journey creating social awareness for transgender community

We don’t get to see music videos creating social awareness for transgender community in India too often. The Indian constitution provides equal opportunity and rights to every citizen but in the context of transgender, the reality happens to be much different.

Now, a host of eminent musicians from India and USA have joined hands to speak for the underprivileged trans-community of India. Some of the big names from the music industry including Rekha Bharadwaj, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Joy Sarkar, Kaushik Chakraborty and Ratul Shankar (son of eminent artist Mamata Shankar and nephew of Pt. Ravi Shankar) collaborated for this special project. Titled ‘Jagriti..Ek Udaan’, the music video is brainchild of Bangla Band Bhoomi fame Hemanto Goswami from Kolkata and Swaty De Sen from USA.

‘Jagriti… Ek Udaan’ is a special musical journey and a story in which the musicians not just highlighted the issues, problems, violence, harassment and inequalities faced by the trans community of our society but have also shed light on the importance of education and acceptance. It is a humble effort to raise awareness that, yes the struggle could be hard and long, but success can be achieved. Having Lord Sri Krishna transform into Mohini and then marry Aravan for a day, to become a widow the next day, brought a splash of the Hindu mythology in these musical – to show that the concept of being a transgender is age-old, and is celebrated every year in the famous Koovagam festival.

The music video also encourages the utopian society to leave behind the stereotype and acknowledge and accept the transgender community.

Courtesy : TOI

Note: This news piece was originally published in timesofindia.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights .