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Anthony's (Jesuthasan Antonythasan) life has taken a bit of a slump of late, his doctor tells him he's got a weak heart and should quit smoking and drinking (he does neither), his bar isn't exactly making a profit, and at home he feels underappreciated by his wife Pavun (Thenuka Kantharajah). Then one day at the bar, a girl dancing to a tune from the juke box, Roobha (Amrit Sandhu) catches his eye, and he sends a drink over to her table. A few days later, when a guy tries to get physical with Roobha against her will, Anthony throws him out. This impresses Roobha, and she befriends Anthony, and before you know it they become lovers - but when they want to have sex for the first time, Anthony finds out Roobha's actually a guy. Feeling cheated, Anthony slaps Roobha across the face and storms off ...

Earlier that year: Roobha still lives with his parents, and as a man, too, but when he's found trying on his sister's (Ishwaria Chandru) clothes, all Hell breaks loose - especially when Roobha opens up to them that he wants surgery to become a woman. And before long things come to a head and Roobha's dad (Sornalingam Vairamuthu) throws him out to fend for himself. Moving into a cheap motel room, Roobha slowly becomes herself as a woman, but having to support herself she becomes a prostitute - at least that way she makes enough money to save some for her surgery on the side. She also makes good friends in two fellow transgender prostitutes ... and then one day she's brutally attacked by a gang of thugs who just find it fun to beat up transgender people. Traumatized, she really can't do tricks no more, but soon finds a job as a server at a restaurant. It's about that time when she first meets Anthony, and seriously falls in love with him despite the fact that he's a family man and doesn't know about her being a transgender yet. So when he slaps and leaves her after finding out, it breaks her heart - but he comes back, because he has come to the realization that this has always been about more than just sex, and he even offers to pay for her surgery. But of course, he hasn't taken his financial shortcomings, his family and his poor health into account ...

A compelling movie that's really a (doomed) love story first and a transgender movie only second, as it's really the romance that's the heart of the film - and that makes the film's conflicts all the more palpable, gives the transgender aspect extra weight, as at its core this film's story is really relatable, as are the characters with all their flaws, and their arcs. And of course, a strong cast helps here as well, while on a directorial level the imagery gets much of its richness from the story been set in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, with many cultural references, but the pictures never smother the story, making this one a very cool and also very interesting watch.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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