‘In Transit’ review: In engaging docuseries, courage tinged with caution

They arrived at an understanding of their true selves at different points and through different routes. The engaging Prime Video documentary series In Transit features interviews with nine individuals from different classes, faiths and cultural backgrounds. They identify as trans men, trans women, binary or gender fluid.

A few of them have undergone gender reassignment surgery.

For Aryan, a clinical psychologist from Mumbai, the awareness that he is a trans-man came from watching the popular television serial Hum Paanch.

Created by Imtiaz Patel, Hum Paanch is about a sales representative’s efforts to raise his five daughters, which include the tomboy Kajal. For Aryan, “Kajal bhai” was the first indication that gender is assigned rather than a biological determined, and that it was possible for a woman to identify as a man.

This insightful anecdote is one of many scattered across In Transit.

Heartfelt, often heart-rending conversations with Aryan, Rie, Anubhuti, Teena, Madhuri, Patruni, Rumi, Saher and Siddharth provide a comprehensive picture of transgender realities. Created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti – who also serve as producers – and directed by Ayesha Sood, In Transit is an exercise in myth busting, an education in transness and a battle cry for greater acceptance.

Each of the four episodes follows a theme: realisation, survival strategies, the quest for romantic relationships and...

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