Nadira Mehrin is an Indian actor, model, news anchor, and TV personality, who works in the Malayalam entertainment industry. She was the first transgender person in Kerala to take admission to an academic course using the government’s transgender quota, which she used to pursue her first post-graduation degree. In 2021, she made headlines for becoming the first transwoman to enrol for a second post-graduation course under the Kerala government’s transgender quota. In 2023, she appeared as a contestant in Bigg Boss (Malayalam season 5) reality show on the Asianet channel.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Nadira Mehrin was born on Friday, 17 September 1999 (age 22 years; as of 2022) in Manacaud, Thiruvananthapuram. Her zodiac sign is Virgo. She pursued a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication at A.J College of Science & Technology, Kerala, a master’s degree in political science at University College, Thiruvananthapuram, and a master’s degree in Theatre at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kerala. [1]Nadira Mehrin – Facebook
Sex Transformation
While she was growing up, she knew something in her body was different from others, but she could not tell her family about it because she was very young at that time. In an interview, she shared an incident that happened to her in class 8 when she was sexually assaulted by her classmates after which she was afraid to go to school for many days. When she complained about the incident to her teachers, they did not take any action and even told her that this happened because she used to behave like a girl. After that, she stopped going to school till class 10 and used to study at home. When she turned sixteen, she realized that her identity differed from the one she was assigned at birth (boy).
After one year, when she turned seventeen, she came out of the closet and revealed that she was a transwoman after which she was asked to leave her family home.
In a 2021 interview, she said that she was still not accepted by her family, but they were happy that she is independent. [2]The New Indian Express When she left home, she did not have any money to continue her studies, but fortunately, she received help from a trans community who helped her complete her education. To earn money, she started to tutor students and do modelling. When she was pursuing graduation, she faced many problems like no gender-neutral washrooms in her college.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 7″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Nadira was born into a Muslim family.
Parents & Siblings
There is not much information about her parents and siblings.
Religion/Religious Views
Nadira follows Islam. [3]The Times of India
Career
Model
In 2018, she won the title of Miss Trivandrum.
Actor
In 2022, Nadira made her acting debut with the Malayalam anthology film Freedom Fight.
TV Personality
In 2023, she appeared as a contestant on Bigg Boss (Malayalam season 5).
News Anchor
She works as a news anchor for the Malayalam news channel 24 News.
Tattoos
- An elephant inked on her arm
- A tattoo inked on her chest
Facts/Trivia
- She follows a non-vegetarian diet.
- Whenever she would go to the police station to complain about assaults against her including bullying and eveteasing the police never filed an FIR and in fact supported the assaulters.
- According to her, education is the only thing that makes her empowered. She wants to change people’s thinking about transgenders. In an interview, she said that she took admission to the master’s degree because she wanted other trans people to have the courage to study further.
- In an interview, she said that she faced discrimination when she started acting. She said that directors and producers prefer a man or woman to play the role of a transgender even when a transgender can be cast in the role.
- In 2018, while pursuing her post-graduation in Political Science at University College, Thiruvananthapuram, she became the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) general secretary candidate. In 2022, she became the vice president of the federation (AISF). In an interview, while talking about politics, she said that she had an interest in politics since she was in school. She is happy with the fact that there are many political parties that have trans members, but trans is never supported to contest the elections.
- In 2019, she became the director board member at Queerythm LGBTIQ Community.
- In 2019, she started earning money by opening a juice stall named ‘Aanoruthide Kulukkikada’ near Tagore Theatre.
- In 2020, she addressed the SAMANWAYA Fest on the topic of ‘celebrating differences.’
- In 2021, she started an online campaign ‘Kaleidoscope’ to spread awareness about transgender across India. In an interview, she talked about the campaign and said,
Our aim is to spread awareness so that people can live a life of dignity. We also provide mental health support to the community.”
- In 2022, she came live on Facebook and shared that she was asked to leave a hostel at 12 in the night because she had asked the hostel authority to repair a fan in her room which was important for her hormone treatment. The incident occurred in the Deputy Warden’s room at Priyamvada, a women’s hostel in Kaladi, the centre of Sri Shankaracharya the University of Sanskrit. The warden of the hostel asked her to leave the hostel and live somewhere else if she had a problem.
- She has worked as a resource person for the Kerala government.
- She teaches people about Sexual Gender Minority.
References