Bollywood role for British Indian transgender model

LEICESTER: An Indian-origin transgender model has landed a role in a forthcoming Bollywood film, "KingCon" starring Govinda.

Shinata Sangha, 20, comes from a Hindu-Punjabi background and is Britain's most successful South Asian transgender model.

He has flown to Mumbai to talk to the producers of the film and go over the script. He will play a stripper in "KingCon", which will be shot in London and India and also stars  Celina Jaitley.

Shinata told Leicester Mercury that his landing the film role may help transgender models in India gain more social acceptance.

"This is a great achievement for me to get offered this leading role. In India, transvestites have not really been accepted. Five years ago, being transgender would have been seen as a sin. People thought it was degrading. There has been a taboo about this in my culture. But I hope this will make a difference."

Shinata - not his real name - told his parents he was gay and a transvestite when he was 15 and they accepted him. He has since won over 15 beauty queen titles in Britain, including Miss Glamour Queen, 2006 and Miss Gay India, 2007.

Earlier this year, he won another laurel, International T-Girl, 2008. He has also launched an official gossip page and online blog for the British Asian magazine, Brit-Asian.