‘Dorothy’, a long-awaited embrace for the queer community

As ‘Dorothy’ wins over audiences, trans activists and members of the queer community speak about seeing their lives, desires and struggles reflected with tenderness in Karthik Subbaraj’s film

Updated - September 29, 2026 06:46 pm IST

An AI-generated image featuring queer activists and a poster of the Tamil movie ‘Dorothy’ created with a prompt on ChatGPT. | Photo Credit: Ramesh Rama Chandran

(this article may contain spoilers for Dorothy)

“This does not feel like a step up; it feels like having stepped on an escalator.” This is how Jaya, a trans activist and general manager of Sahodaran, an NGO working to uplift LGBTQIA+ people, describes how Tamil filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj’s latest sensation, Dorothy, feels to the queer community.

Dorothy, released in theatres on September 25, tells a sensitive story about a trans woman coming into her own and, as a bonus, finding love. The film has gotten rave reviews and, most importantly, appreciation from many in the community, who have yearned for decades for Tamil cinema to open its arms and embrace them.

Actor and author Negha Shahin is over the moon. “We finally got a film that takes a deep look into trans life. It surprised me to see how even cisgender heteronormative people connected to the film.” The emotion is apparent when Marakkah, teacher, poet, theatre artiste and founder of Chennai Queer Library, says she saw herself in Dorothy. “All my old memories came back to me. I couldn’t stop crying during the last 30 minutes,” she says.

Malini Jeevarathnam, actor-filmmaker and activist, found Dorothy to be a deep, well-crafted film. “It’s a raw, real story about what happens next door in our towns. What I liked was how they didn’t compromise on authenticity for aesthetic quality,” they say.

Marakkah and Negha Shahin | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

How Karthik’s story shed light on the prevalent social evil of honour killings targeting trans persons seems to have touched everyone. “We have seen honour killings due to caste and religion, and we are, in fact, a society that killed female infants. But Karthik has exposed something people don’t wish to speak about,” says Marakkah. Negha herself is a victim of family violence, “which is why I found that aspect of Dorothy to be very valid,” she says.

In the film, the titular Dorothy is also seen to be suffering from immense gender dysphoria before her gender transition — something mainstream Tamil cinema has hardly touched upon. “Most trans women, like myself, used to indulge in feminine activities secretly to feel euphoric. But some suppress those feelings due to fear and follow the stereotypes that their parents have taught them. Someday, it’ll burst out of them, which is what Dorothy shows,” says Jaya, who also rejoices in how “sensitively and tenderly Karthik showed the feeling of gender euphoria after gender transition”. Everyone we spoke to seems to believe that Karthik and his team have put in a lot of effort to research trans lives. “Only then can someone show such feelings with so much life to them,” says Jaya.

Maestro Ilaiyaraaja composing music for the film feels like a major win for the community. “Many songs have humiliated our lives, but there hadn’t been a song that expressed our feelings well until ‘Muthumani,’ which Raaja sir himself has written. Tamil cinema’s evolution from ‘Kokkarakozhi Koovura Velai’ to ‘Muthumani’ itself is something huge,” says Negha, while Marakkah remembers quite well the hatred she received due to ‘Kokkarakozhi Koovura Velai.’ “I gravitated away from Tamil cinema because of such representation. But I still cannot come out of Dorothy. So after more than 40 years, Tamil cinema has moved to the next phase, I believe,” she says.

Jaya and Malini Jeevarathnam | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

That said, the community is also witnessing all the queerphobia that is being spewed at them these past few weeks. “There’s a common notion that Tamil people have accepted trans people and that they see trans people as gods. So if these people are reacting like this to a film like Dorothy, I wonder how they would react if they showed gay men, lesbian women, and so on,” wonders Negha.

The film’s final shot, featuring a kiss between a cis man and a trans woman, has particularly received vile, inhumane remarks online. “They are saying that it features two men kissing, which is very transphobic,” says Negha. Jaya finds it strange that people confuse the film’s queer identity with homosexuality. She wonders what’s so grotesque about the kiss when cis-men have always sexualised trans women. “There are many trans sex workers; now who indulges in sex with them? People should understand that trans people have their own romantic and sexual desires and dreams of a future with their loved one. And the way Dorothy speaks of that is beautiful.” Malini says accepting trans identity but refusing to accept trans romance comes from a faulty political lens. “It’s as if they are giving acceptance due to pity, but nobody needs that. If you accept me, accept who I am, who I love and how I live.”