Who Is Gauri Sawant? India's First Transgender Rights Activist - The Inspiration Behind Sushmita Sen's Taali

Bollywood actress and former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen shared a photo of herself from her upcoming web series Taali. Sen will be seen essaying the role of India's first transgender rights activist, Gauri Sawant, who is the trustee of the Sai Savli Foundation Trust. Sawant has been at the forefront of defending her community's rights and has worked tirelessly to assist HIV/AIDS patients.

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Sushmita Sen on Thursday (October 6) dropped a first look from her upcoming biopic. She is dressed in a green saree that features a red blouse, a big red bindi, and an old-fashioned wrist watch.

She captioned the post as, "Taali - Bajaungi nahi, bajwaungi. First look as Shreegauri Sawant. Nothing makes me prouder and more grateful than to have the privilege of portraying this beautiful person and of bringing her story to the world. Here's to life and to everyone's right to live it with dignity! I love you guys!" Further, the actress shared an update regarding the web series filming with hashtags like - "currently filming," "Taali," "Shreegauri Sawant" and "biopic."

About Gauri Sawant

Born in Pune, Gauri Sawant is India's first transgender rights activist and the goodwill ambassador of the Election Commission in Maharashtra. Gaauri was born as Ganesh, but as she grew up, she started feeling more like a woman and gradually decided to accept her true self. Eventually, Ganesh was changed to Gauri Sawant. She left her home at the age of 15 as she didn't want to disappoint her family. She has also featured in a 2017 Vicks ad that trails the story of her and her adopted daughter.

Gauri was the first trans person to file a petition in the Supreme Court in 2014 demanding adoption rights for transgender people. For those uninformed, she was the petitioner in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) case, in which the Supreme Court declared transgender people to be the third gender.

She adopted a girl named Gayatri in 2008 after her mother's death, who battled AIDS. Speaking in an interview, Sawant revealed that she adopted Gayatri after her biological mother, who was a sex-worker, died of AIDS.