Kohinoor

KOHINOOR (25), a transgender woman, lives in a remote coastal village in India. Like most of her kind, she is an outcast, shunned by society and family alike. Her relationship with MRINAL (30), the heir to a powerful political family, can therefore only exist behind a veil – a deadly secret. When Mrinal marries a wealthy woman from a high caste, Kohinoor accepts this as her fate and is content with the clandestine trysts that continue even after his marriage. But as his bond with his family grows, Kohinoor realises that their love means little to Mrinal. Overcome by anger and rejection, she kills him.

She makes her way to Mumbai. SANDEEP (19), a friend from the village, helps her settle in. She joins a clan of a Kinnar guru and goes in search of her missing sister MALTI, who was taken to the city long ago by HARI (51). The spark of hope is short-lived, however: Kohinoor is rejected by the woman she believes to be Malti.

It is at this point that Mrinal returns. As a ghostly phantom. She sings to bring him back to life; he is her reason for living. Unwilling to lose him again, but unable to bear his presence because he reminds her of her misdeed, she collapses. To live, she must exorcise his spirit and all that is buried in her past. The reappearance of the evil Hari sets her on this path – to accept, admit and ask for forgiveness. She sings again; through singing she can explore the depths of her dark past and find the thread that connects her to life. At first she sings for her community, later for a larger crowd, for the invisible, the rejected and the deprived who, like herself, wander through our cities every day. Kohinoor becomes a beloved singer but will she find her freedom in the deepest recesses of her heart?