Sanchari Vijay, who bagged the best actor national award for his role in Kannada film "Nanu Avanalla Avalu" (I am not a he, but she), today said playing the character of a transgender was difficult even though he had done it earlier in a Prakash Raj-starrer movie.
Vijay, whose other film "Harivu" bagged the Best Kannada Film award," said: "I am doubly elated."
"Playing the character of a transgender was very difficult though I had played this character earlier in the tri-lingual Prakash Raj-starrer film, but that was a very small role," he told PTI here after being chosen for the best actor award.
Vijay had played the transgender's character in "Oggarane" (Kannada), "Un Samayal Arayil" (Tamil) and "Ulavacharu Biryani" (Telugu), a romantic film directed by Prakash Raj.
Though the Tamil and the Telugu versions didn't do well, "Oggarane", the Kannada version, became a huge hit.
Vijay said he did a lot of homework to portray the character as he paid several visits to the colony where transgenders stay, just to observe them react to different situations.
"I put in a lot of effort to understand and portray the role of a transgender, which is an unnatural phenomena to me because I am a straight man. I paid visits to them to understand and observe their mannerisms and how they reacted to different situations, which helped me play the character better," he said.
He was declared the best actor for his poignant portrayal of a woman trapped in a man's body, portraying a gamut of emotions as "she" struggles through confusion, rejection and humiliation to finally chart her own course with confidence and dignity.
Asked what was the most touching scene in the film, Vijay said, "The scene where a crude and also illegal surgery is performed, which is in real life done in Kadapa in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. That scene I liked the most," he said.
Getting this role was not easy as the filmmakers had rejected many of the original transgenders, and ultimately offered it to him after they were convinced of his acting skills, Vijay said.
"The filmmakers of this film had rejected many transgenders after their screen tests, but they offered me the role, may be they were convinced I could deliver on their expectations," he said.
The award winning film, directed by B S Lingadevaru, narrates the life of a transgender. The film is based on "I am Vidya, an autobiography of Living Smile Vidya."