A couple of days ago, Taapsee Pannu skyrocketed to top trends for her ‘mard ki body’ when a faceless troll, well, decided to troll her on Twitter. The point of contention – a still from her upcoming film, Rashmi Rocket, where Taapsee, with her back to the camera, showed off enviably ripped muscles. Her answer? “Just remember this line and wait for 23rd September (sic).” On September 23, the trailer of Rashmi Rocket dropped – and it all came together.

Taapsee’s Rashmi, a National-level player, is tagged ‘mardaana’ for she is ‘not conventionally feminine’. Her achievements, medals, fame, all snatched away in a matter of seconds when she’s accused of lying about her gender and competing in women’s games. What followed was a slew of archaic gender testings to ascertain if she was a woman at all. Then, a ban. Then, a case. Mudslinging, public opinion made and broken, and the customary Bollywoodised crescendo of tears, drama and the promise to rise back up. And a lingering memory of Dutee Chand from 2014.

Dutee Chand, a double silver medallist at the Asian Games and India’s National record-holder in 100 m, was banned and dropped from India’s Commonwealth and Asian Games teams in 2014. This was on grounds of hyperandrogenism – a condition where the female body produces more testosterone, almost at the level of men. She was just 19 at the time. She fought back. She won. And had her ban overturned. In 2018, she won two Silver medals at the Women’s 100 m and 200 m at the Asian Games. And became the first Indian athlete to come out as gay. But that is not the story of Rashmi Rocket. Rashmi resonates with Dutee on several levels. Rashmi, like Dutee, comes from a humble background. And as the story goes, has had to fight the ‘I am a woman, so what?’ battle against patriarchy. From there, to now having to prove her femininity would be a twisted war, unlike what Bollywood has ever seen before. Rashmi, however, has her husband by her side. Yes, Bollywood can only go so far until it trips on the knight-in-shining-armour boulder.

                Source: India Today