Episode Information

This fascinating film explores the world of the Hijras. With no present day equivalent anywhere else, the Indian Hijras are held in deep fascination both in India itself, and the world-over. They are sexually ambiguous and socially unintegrated. They are easily recognisable by their masculine features, exaggerated feminine behaviour, and by their trademark clap. Most people in India believe that Hijras are people born with ambiguous genitalia, born as hermaphrodites. Yet if that were the case, then how is it that the population of Hijras seems to be growing? Today there are an estimated one million Hijras in India. Their numbers are not justified by the medical incidence of sexual ambiguities in the country. From the intersex clinic at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where children born with ambiguous genitalia are treated and assigned a sex, to the vibrant world of Hijras where gender identity clashes with physical reality, this is a fascinating, moving, and distinctive look into a true No Man’s Land.