Rainbow Diaries

This week Mandee and Kabir spoke to Ashok Row Kavi the first man to publicly come out as gay in India way back in 1984. During that time he saw how homosexuality was looked upon as a crime and the rights of gay men were never considered. Ashok Row Kavi is known as the mother or Gay community because he has taken care of the community as his responsibility, his contribution to finding India's First Gay Magazine - Bombay dost and opening Humsafar Trust is historical and respected by the community as these are the platforms which convey a message for the people of the community that 'You are not alone' 

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Just like Indian weddings are with Riti Riwaz, Mehandi, Ring ceremony this wedding was no different. Yes! We spoke to this viral Joda Supriyo and Abhay as they openly tied Knots in Hyderabad. During the lockdown, they spent a great time understanding each other and both of them discovered that they are just like any other couple and it's time they should celebrate it by marrying each other. So, listen to Mandee and Kabir in conversation with Supriyo Chakraborty talking about how they both convinced their families and made this wedding unforgettable. 

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The rainbow flag is waving at every corner of the world as Saisha Shinde who is a transwoman and is responsible for making our Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu's gown. The same stunning gown which Harnaz was wearing at the finale and won the title of Miss Universe. Saisha has battled with tough times in her life like a boss, whether it was identifying her identity while going through bullying or making a remarkable place for herself in the Bollywood industry. Listen to this podcast and get to know how Harnaaz found Saisha to design her gown and the journey of Saisha to come out openly as a transwoman to becoming a famous fashion celebrity.

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This week on Rainbow Diaries, Kabir spoke to Naaz Joshi who is India's first transgender international beauty queen. Naaz was born as Aizya Joshi; at the age of 7, her family sent her to a distant relative to avoid taunts from society for her feminine behavior. Naaz went through bullying in school, she worked at dance bars and restaurants to earn a living. But she always had a spark within which led her to become a model. Naaz also worked as a sex worker to earn money for sex reassignment surgery.

Later, she enrolled National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and completed her formal studies in fashion design, and today the world knows her. Not only she is a proud model but also a mother of two daughters; she adopted them when their immediate families abandoned them. Listen to this powerful story of Naaz Joshi in this podcast and learn how not to allow anybody in your life to decide who you are and who you want to be.

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Since childhood, we get conditioned to distinguish roles according to people's sex or gender. Be it clothes, cooking, or wearing a pink color dress. As a result, we are not fully aware of who we are and what we like. But today things are progressing and we have someone who has set an example to be the change herself. Nirjal Basnet a.k.a Queen Andro a fashion stylist & a make-up artist who recently won the title ‘Myntra Fashion Superstar’ Season 3 a popular digital reality show. We have Nirjal in the podcast today as she is an inspiration for the LGBTQIA+ community to express themselves and form one of the largest creative platforms for the LGBTQIA+ community

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In this episode of Rainbow Diaries, we have Abhina Aher, an Indian transgender activist who works for transgender empowerment also an artist, and the founder of Dancing Queens - a dancing group of transgender people. Abhina lost her father when she was a child and her mother was the sole breadwinner of the family. Abhina hide things with her mom that she was getting bullied and sexually abused by her schoolmates because of her identity. Hence, she couldn't receive the right care children need from their parents. She was broken, but today she has joined all the pieces and brought the community together to achieve equal rights in India.

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This week on Rainbow Dairies we have Eshan Hilal, India's first belly dancer, performer, choreographer, and fashion model. This international Men's day we ran a campaign 'Tu Ladki Hai Kya'. Most men have been taunted with this phrase at some point in their lives. On that note, Kabir spoke to Eshan, as unfortunately, some people question his sexuality or gender, based on the stereotype that belly dancing should be done only by women. But if you watch his videos on YouTube you will be amazed by his performance and electrical moves. Eshan went through tough times to finally reach a point where he is comfortable in his own skin and loves what he does. Listen to his journey to becoming India's First Male Belly Dancer. 

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This episode is a special one dedicated to International Men's day to break stereotypes of toxic masculinity. This international Men's day we ran a campaign 'Tu Ladki Hai Kya'. 

Most men have been taunted with this phrase at some point in their lives. On that note, Mandee & Kabir spoke to Ankush Bahuguna as he emphasizes the absence of correlation between make-up and gender and other such stereotypes.

Ankush Bahuguna is an actor and social media influencer and has also worked in various channels like Restless Mind and MensXP. In 2020, he won the TLG Bloggers and Social Media Big Entertainment Award. 

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In this episode of Rainbow Diaries, we have Amit Khanna who is a director, writer, film producer, actor, and a fashion photographer from Mumbai. He has made a movie called 'All about 377' that highlights issues concerning the LGBT community, especially the stigma that follows people who openly identify themselves as queer.

In this episode, Amit talks about casting couch, his fight with bullying, and sex as a means of pleasure.

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Tushar Tyagi, This man reminds us of Ranbir Kapoor from the movie Tamasha. Since childhood, he was fond of listening to bedtime stories from his Naani and his imagination is quick and beautiful which helps him in making great movies. Tushar Tyagi made a movie 'Saving Chintu' a short film on LGBTQ and adoption, which also qualifies to run for Oscar 2021. 

This episode talks about the portrayal of the LGBTQ community in Indian Cinemas and why Bollywood lacks awareness when it comes to the presentation of the community. 

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