Alina Khan, the transgender star of the award-winning film Joyland recently chatted with The Guardian over her journey as a transgender and the ban on the movie in Pakistan.
Khan said she was rejected by her family when she came out as trans. “My family did not accept me, but neither did society.” She was told she embarrassed relatives, and her mother was constantly angry with her. “She would tell me not to make exaggerated hand gestures like a woman while talking, to sit like a boy and not be in the company of girls,” said Khan. Her siblings called her khusra – a derogatory term, which was originally used to refer to eunuchs but is also a slur against trans people. But as Khan said: “I had never met a transgender [person] in my life so did not know what they were like.”
After she received global appreciation for her work, Khan’s family welcomed her with warmth. “They accepted me finally. They realised that I was not earning by begging or doing sex work,” she said.
Joyland has been hailed on the festival circuit. It was the first Pakistani film to be selected as an official entry at Cannes in May, winning two festival awards and receiving a standing ovation in a packed Salle Debussy theatre.
“Tears were trickling down my face while I continued smiling. I don’t know whether the tears were of joy, were for all the hard work that I put in, or for my struggles since I was a child and that continue,” said Khan, who made her screen debut in the short film Darling in 2019. “For the first time in my life, I felt my talent preceded my gender, I was given so much respect.”
The Saim Sadiq directorial was banned last week by the Pakistani government. Canceling the film’s license, which puts its Oscars’ contention in doubt, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, announced: “Written complaints were received that the film contains highly objectionable material which do not conform with the social values and moral standards of our society and is clearly repugnant to the norms of ‘decency and morality’ as laid down in Section 9 of the Motion Picture Ordinance, 1979”.
Alina expressed her disappointment with the film’s ban in Pakistan, “I’ve been very sad. There’s nothing against Islam and I don’t understand how Islam can get endangered by mere films.”
The 24-year-old added: “The Pakistani trans community was also very upset.”
Set in Lahore, the film tells the story of Haider, a married man who joins a dance troupe and falls in love with the lead transgender dancer, Biba, played by Khan.
Khan told the Guardian she adores Biba.
“She’s a badass, strong-willed, fiercely independent, dominating, outspoken woman, everything that I am not; I loved the role I played,” said Khan. When she was offered the role, she was relieved not to play an “oppressed” character “which is the life for most transgenders in Pakistan”.
