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Mumbai: Right in the middle of Dadar flower market, spreading his wings, is a drag artist who wants the common man to know the real meaning of colour and diversity. One of the few well-known names in the field of drag art in India, Zeeshan Ali recently took to the streets of Dadar like a king, leaving onlookers awestruck.
Born in Mumbai and raised in Bengaluru, Zeeshan has performed across India. He designs his own costumes and gives himself a bold makeover to look people in the eye and become one with the crowd in a bid to make them queer-friendly.
A performing art of exaggerated forms of gender, ‘drag’ has survived the travails of time for centuries. Drag kings and queens are often associated with the queer community and the art gained its deserving fame in India only after homosexuality was decriminalised in 2018. However, the handful of artists still believe that the art has been kept away from the masses by its reserved performances in safe havens and needs to be reintroduced to the common people with a flourish.
All drag artists have their unique ways of expressing themselves by singing or dancing. Zeeshan posed for photoshoots on the streets in an extravagant look. To some curious onlookers, he also explained what the art is about.
Zeeshan told the FPJ, “I wish to bring the conversation about drag to the forefront; for that it’s important to be in front of common people. The experience was challenging and liberating at the same time. The fear of being verbally or physically assaulted for my art was defeated by the reactions from people, who curiously asked me about it and silently accepted it with a smile.”
The video he uploaded on his Instagram went viral, garnering over 7.5 million views. After a successful stint at Dadar, Zeeshan now wishes to perform at every street in the city to create a dialogue with the masses.
Coming from an orthodox Muslim family, Zeeshan said that making his art accepted by his family was not a walk on flowers and it took years of consistent hard work to gain trust. He wishes to see more drag artists in the country who can express themselves in whichever way they want to.
He said, “Drag has always been there in India in some form. This art does not limit you to a certain format and lets you express yourself in any way. Although it now has around 200 artists in India, it is still in nascent stages. My Dadar video led to a conversation online, be it good or bad but people at least started talking about drag. The smallest and the biggest drag artists are working towards starting conversations among the people.”
