This Transwoman From Mumbai Who Dresses Up As Rekha Is Now An Internet Sensation
Pooja Sharma Rekha Transgender Community Transwoman Ankita Lokhande Mumbai Local Trains Mumbai
A transwoman named Pooja Sharma has become an Internet sensation. She started getting more traction after one of the photographers shared her videos.
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If you are Mumbaikar or have stayed in Mumbai, you'll know that the local trains are the lifeline of the city with people spending many hours traveling to their workplaces every day. Those who have traveled or are traveling by local trains would know how the local trains have many artists entertaining the people. One such artist is Pooja Sharma, a transwoman from Mumbai, who has now become an Internet sensation, after a photographer shared her videos online.

She has been getting a lot of attention on the local trains as she reminds people of Rekhaji, especially because of her dressing sense. From her jewelry to saree to her hair, everything is just like the Bollywood veteran actor. Pooja rose to fame by sharing videos of her dancing aboard the local trains, on Instagram.

Here’s one of the videos:

After the video started to go viral, people began appreciating her beauty and acknowledging her graceful personality. They also agreed to the fact that she does look like Rekha.

We stumbled across one of her interviews with Crossbyte Productions which gave us more insight into her story.

When asked about how people treat her, she said, “Amid all the rush when I get in the train, people look at me but they don’t think that I have come to beg. All of them stand near me. They come and stand near me just to see me. When I ask for money, people laugh and they give it to me with so much love and affection. I ask for Re 1 and the crowd of Mumbai local train knows me. They recognize me as Rekhaji. I don’t even have to ask for money. Everyone says that the way I wear my saree, I look like Rekha.”

Sharing her past, she added, “When I was young, I did not go to play with my friends who were boys. I used to play with girls in my locality. I felt good, and I used to win in every game in all those ladies' games. Everyone loved me when I was young but I didn’t know I was different. I used to think I am a boy but why don't I play with friends who were boys. My uncle used to scold me but I still used to play with the girls of my locality. In my area, there was a dance competition and I also used to participate. So what I did was I wore my sister’s saree to dance. Everyone started laughing. In my area, there was one Thakur Dada and he understood that I was different. He came over to our place and started discussing me with my family members. We were famous in our family. People used to say that we think that ‘your son is a little different. I did understand when everyone started to point out. I saw my father cry that night when Thakur dada left our house and it did hurt me a lot. What I am doing, I am not doing it deliberately.”

Here’s the full interview: