From Dream Girl 2 to Tootsie – Epic roles which saw male actors crossdress

Sep 9, 2023

By: BI India Bureau

Item songs

Item songs have been around for almost a century in Bollywood, believe it or not! In the 60s and 70s, it was Helen’s shimmying that drove crowds crazy and in the noughties it was Katrina’s Sheila Ki Jawaani that burnt many a dance floor. Cut to 2023, a ghagra-choli clad Ayushmann Khurrana is swaying and doing an item number.

Credit: BCCL IMDB

The trans 20s

Welcome to the trans 20s where biases and gender lines blur into one happy dance sequence. Gender dysphoria and cross dressing are big now, but the silver screen has been way ahead of its times. We delve into the amorphous world of men becoming attractive women. Here are the best-looking actors who broke the gender barrier.

Credit: BCCL

Dreamgirl 2

Cross dressing may be cool and ladyboys are very attractive, but for a man to pull off an item song is still not easy. However, the versatile Ayushmann Khurrana has not just managed to pull off an entire film mouthing sweet nothings to lonely men on phone, he has even pulled off an item song in a lehenga choli.

Credit: BCCL

Baazi

Aamir Khan, the Mr Perfectionist of Bollywood, waxed his body and did everything that a method actor does to look authentic in the movie Baazi where he did a cabaret number. In 2013 he even did a cola ad where he donned a salwar kameez.

Credit: BCCL

Tootsie

In this movie, Dustin Hoffman essayed the role of Michael Dorsey, an out-of-work New York actor who dresses as a lady, Dorothy Michaels, to land a role in a soap opera called the Southwest General.

Credit: IMDB

Nutty Professor

In the Nutty Professor, Eddie Murphy essayed the role of several characters in the film, including the one of the Klump family’s grandmother. Murphy is known for his comic timing but in the movie he killed it as a grumpy old woman.

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Mrs Doubtfire

In the iconic American comedy drama the late Robin Williams played the role of a nanny to spend time with his children after separating from his wife.

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Chachi 420

It wasn’t just Williams who had audiences in splits in Mrs Doubtfire. Miles away, inspired by his role, Kamal Hassan had his father in law fall in love with him in the movie Chachi 420.

Credit: IMDB

Aunty Number 1

Far from his hip thrusts in tight pants, Govinda in Aunty No.1 broke all stereotypes to essay the role of a woman and did a rendezvous with Kader Khan

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Dallas Buyers Club

Jared Leto won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Rayon in the movie. The Oscars that year had some very credible names contending for the same award and yet, the dark horse won.

Credit: Business Insider

Guns and Gulaabs

In the latest web series, Guns & Gulaabs, the son of the antagonist Jugnu tries to emulate his father's path to be the 'son he always wanted'. After he fails, he accepts his reality and in the end, dresses in a 90s ghagra-choli to become a daughter.

Credit: IANS

Sunny times again for the elder Deol​