“#SupportLocalDrag Before they Scream to Death”
So says a post on the Instagram page of Drag Vanti, India’s first online drag space supporting our homegrown Drag Industry. With the popular rise of a celebrity like Chapelle Roan, who uses a drag persona during performances and shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, the existence of Drag as an art form is less of a secret than it once was.
Drag has been incorporated as an art form in multiple ways. Yet, when it comes to India, our understanding of Drag is very often limited to the Indianized version of a Western art form. Even while discussing places where Drag can be experienced best, the same few cosmopolitan names kept coming up (Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa and so on). This is extremely ironic.
As several artists and performers whom I have spoken to have pointed out, Drag existed in India despite not being coined as Drag. Chidananda Sastry, the founder of DragVanti, pointed out how Drag has always existed in Indian art forms whether it be Jatras in West Bengal and Odisha or ‘Launda naaches’ in Bihar. Naaz B, a well-known Drag King, whose drag persona is ‘Emperor Naaz’, who recently performed at the first-ever all-drag kings’ performance, pointed out how most of these art forms were not just “similar to drag” but were drag. He further added an example from Bollywood in the song “Kajra Mohabbat Wala”. Thus, despite not being acknowledged as Drag, India has had a long tradition of Drag.
It is perhaps because of the lack of visibility and acknowledgement that an art form that is consistently trying to be accessible to people and the masses, is not being supported enough. But what is so special about Indian Drag? Why does it even need visibility? This article will not answer all such questions satisfactorily perhaps but it will be an attempt to start the conversation about Indian Drag performances, which has been long overdue.
Indian Drag, or Desi Drag cannot be defined in one word. This is an answer I have consistently received from all the performers that I have spoken to. Indian Drag is a lot of different things. It is multifaceted, just like any other art form. This article is not an exhaustive list that covers everything, but is rather a glimpse of what Indian Drag can look like – all by introducing the readers of this magazine to four performers and their works, along with snippets of conversations I had with them.
This article had first started as something that would speak about the top performers in India: their style, their aesthetics, and what they incorporate. My understanding of Indian Drag was also limited to people being able to express their identities on stage and messing with gender norms in the process. All of this might partly be true, yet during the process of writing this article and speaking to the performers, I have come to understand how Indian Drag is a space for so many people to tell their stories, to feel what they feel, to reach out, to express, to go beyond levels and above all to be their true selves, even when society consistently discourages and denies them.
In fact, one of the performance artists corrected me when I called them brave for always choosing to be their authentic selves, “despite everything”. They said that they make that choice “because of everything”.
Drag is an art form, but it is also a very political choice that one makes.
Durga Shakti Gawde (@durgagawdestudio)
Durga Shakti Gawde is India’s first drag king, who is an activist, educator, sculptor and performance artist. However, according to them, these are only words that they use to describe what they do to other people. Like most Indian Drag artists, Gawde uses their performance to create social awareness and highlight issues to the public that do not get talked about enough. Through their performance, they also express their narrative – one which can truly move.
“Drag is a place that allows me to be seen, heard and felt by the world, experienced by the world in a way that I want them to experience me at that moment and it gives me the sense of great control, and that is important to me because everything in my life feels out of control, all the time…”, says Durga, while speaking about how society puts expectations on people who are biologically assigned female and the constant struggle to meet such expectations.
Gawde was one of the first people to openly talk about gender fluidity and dysphoria. Durga’s drag performance consistently critiques gender roles and expectations. In my experience, watching their performances makes it impossible for one to not connect to them and understand their narrative. At the same time, the aesthetic beauty and liberating nature of their art and performances make one feel empowered and seen, irrespective of their identity. I felt this way because, as they said, their art and performance does not consist of all the different words that they use to describe their work to others, but rather consists of their “authentic self” that refuses to fall into a single category.
When asked about what can be done to support Drag and Drag artists, Durga describes how even small steps like writing about Indian Drag can spread awareness. They further add how Drag needs support because it is expensive – even if one is performing for two minutes on stage – all the more so in India. They further talked about how Indian Drag should not be a gated community, and how their journey has focused a lot on allyship.
“There is no need for labels here, there is no need for words here, there is just need for presence here and acceptance here”, they said.
Gawde is India’s first performing Drag King. However, they clarify, saying that they might be so in the way that Drag is understood now – in relation to the Western art form. “There have been a lot of people who have come and gone that I do want to acknowledge. You know, a lot of them won’t talk about it that much, a lot of them were erased because their presence wasn’t recorded in the same way that it is being recorded now.”, they said.
Emperor Naaz B (@emperornaazbee_)
“Drag is about being anything and everything, or nothing..”, says Naaz B, who we mentioned earlier on. When asked about what inspires their performances, Naaz B says that it is music that serves as a basic inspiration for their performances and looks. Encapsulating his experience in his performance and making it accessible to the world is the way in which he approaches his art. His recent Merman look was inspired by a trip to the islands of Andaman.
To me, the best element of Naaz B’s performances is definitely his makeup. It was therefore interesting to find out that in fact, Makeup was the part that he was most anxious about and did not know anything about during his initial days of performance. He recalls his former days as a drag performer and how he did not know a lot, and how it was the support of the other performers in the Indian Drag community and their patience in answering all of his questions that enable him to produce the stunning and confident performances of today.
When asked about what could be done to support the Indian Drag community, Naaz B stated how sharing and talking about his art is an essential way in which artists can spread awareness and access to Indian Drag, thereby earning its deserved support. Being passionate about one’s work and art pushes one to go beyond the limitations put by society. He believes that any form of art is extremely powerful and Drag is even more powerful as it goes beyond certain binaries in society. He believes that is a beautiful art form that needs to be shared with the world. He further states while dedicated individuals are working towards spreading awareness, how gatekeeping of the performances is also something that occurs and needs to be combated.
Patruny Chidananda Shastry (@sas3dancingfeet/ @dragvanti)
Chidananda Patruny Shastry is a classical dance performer, an author, an activist and as mentioned earlier in this article, the founder of Dragvanti. His performance incorporates classical dance and music along with expressionism. Shastry describes that he is someone who looks at Drag as a political act and is vocal about the need for more representation of Indian Drag artists.
Shastry says that it is real-life events that inspire him to stage his performances. “I can’t create art without a real experience”, he says. For instance, if there is an ongoing political story that needs to be told, Shastry would utilise their art form to put it on stage. Shastry is also consistently vocal about the need for equitable spaces that normalise and familiarise Drag performances in the country, reclaiming it as an Indian art form. Much like other performers I spoke to, Shastry is strictly against gatekeeping Drag, both for the audience and performers.
There are very often certain performers who are unable to come to the forefront due to a lack of access to spaces or the stigma against Drag. Sastry believes this needs to change and can only change if more visibility is provided to Drag Performers in India. “People [still] confuse Drag with just men who do make up”, he says while speaking of the stigma and taboo still surrounding Drag in most regions.
Shastry’s perspective is reflected in his performances thus consciously uses Drag to make taboo topics and political narratives or stories accessible even to the masses. Shastry believes in using their platform to tell intersectional stories and create inclusive spaces.
Piyush Shrestha aka Cologne Doll (@thecolognedoll)
“… Desi drag is Hope, as that’s what it gave me in my life”, says Piyush Shrestha, better known as Cologne Doll, who is based in Bangalore and one of the popular Drag Queens from the South. Her performances embody a stunning mixture of empowerment, freedom and music that enchants its audience. Her performances seem like they are trying to inspire, encourage and instill hope within the audience.
“For me, my artistic process is about embodying the femininity which I always hid behind and letting it shine through.”, she says while talking about her artistic process. She goes on to say how everything from Gods, culture, emotions, people and even situations inspire her to create performances which are all based on embodying the character and making the audience feel through dance, expressions, lip syncing and flexibility or stunt mixes.
She suggests different ways of showing support to local drag, like going to performances supporting your local queens by visiting their shows, tipping them, following and sharing their content and above all talking more about drag with peers and family. According to her, the more we talk, the more familiar people will get with it. And thus ask more questions. “Making drag familiar and more visible is the only way to move forward and let this art form receive the love and respect it deserves.” In the end it is through visibility, conversations and representation that Indian Drag will get the acceptance it deserves.
Conclusion
Indian Drag is a spectrum of variations, and the performers are all driven by different motivations.
However, one thing that connects all of these artists is how Drag provided them with an opportunity to reach, become and express their authentic selves that are often hidden behind the stigma and constraints of society.
This article has made me realise how unaware I was about the liberating and empowering potential that Indian Drag has and how it still requires so much more visibility. Indian Drag requires more representation beyond those that are either stereotypical or ambivalent. Only when Indian Drag is represented and covered by mainstream media and popular culture would it be more accepted and this article was just a minor effort to call for that.
Please, I urge everyone reading to check out the performers we have mentioned, to visit their pages, attend their shows, and provide support to this community. Yet, the artists I named here are few and recognised. The ones whose narratives are openly accessible to us and yet they were kind enough to offer their perspectives and converse with me. Several other Drag performers do not get the chance to make themselves visible and do not have access or privilege to come forward. It is only when we make an effort to engage in such performances and spread the word that more artists gain recognition and support.
I think the true nature of art is always immersive – one is enjoying, one is stunned and one is immersed in these performances. They invite you to engage with a narrative that you might be uncomfortable with. Irrespective of how each of these artists views Drag, they have been successful in not just making bold statements through their bold moves but also reclaiming Drag as something that can be used to educate, inspire and challenge. At the same time, all of them are driven and inspired by Indian Culture in one way or another, making sure that it is not just an Indian version of a Western tradition as is often understood.
Indian Drag has become an art form of its own that forces you to understand and makes you feel understood at the same time.
Edited by Yatin Satish
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