‘Kanpuriye’ helmer Ashish Aryan to make film on trans man who became a parent ( Photo Credit – IANS )
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Director Ashish Aryan, who earlier directed the 2019 film ‘Kanpuriye’ starring Aparshakti Khurana and Vijay Raaz, is set to write and direct a film on the recently surfaced news of a trans man’s pregnancy in Kerala. Sahad and Ziya Paval, a transgender couple living in Kozhikode, started their gender transition process two years back.
Early last year, Sahad paused the journey to become a trans man mid-way, first to become a parent. The director went to Kerala and stayed with the couple for three-four weeks.
Ashish Aryan understood their life, their world, and their story. And took rights from them to make the yet-to-be-titled film on the topic.
Talking about the same, Ashish Aryan said, “Back in 2021 when writer Swati Jha came up with the story of male pregnancy, it blew my mind and I instantly jumped on the project. Since it’s a rare global phenomenon, it was difficult for people to understand here. But after working for two years, we got to know about this couple from Kerala who became parents recently where the father successfully delivered a child.”
Sahad and Paval have been living together for the last three years. While Paval is from Kozhikode, Sahad, who worked as an accountant before going on maternity leave, is from Thiruvananthapuram.
Ashish further mentioned, “We met them in Calicut and it was an instant connection between us and the entire family. We bonded really well and I can say it’s a beautiful Indian love story of Sahad and Ziya that we want to take to the global audience. Despite many challenges right from their childhood, it’s a story about triumph of love over social stigma. We have acquired the official rights of the story and are currently developing it into a feature-length film.”
