Rakhi Sawant has always been a drag queen. She just didn’t know it

For Rakhi, the queer community is her safe space. Since her first day in the entertainment industry, she has only ever allowed queer hair and makeup artists to touch her face. Queer folk have given meaning to her life when she has felt like an outsider, matching her game and sass. “That’s why when I see a homophobic person, I want to slap them. I often tell them that, by any standard of measurement, the queer community is more educated, more evolved and more refined. I ask them, what do you have to give to this world apart from all this hate?”

Perhaps it’s why the queer community has embraced her right back. Last Saturday, at the Crystal Ballroom in The Lalit New Delhi, Rakhi would say one word and the entire room, filled with scores of queer folk, would erupt together. Even the otherwise stoic security guards grinned, looking at her with shining eyes. “Legacy is huge and so is my ass,” someone in the crowd screamed. “Rakhi can step on me,” someone else in the VIP section was heard saying. “Finally, all said and done, I work on keeping myself… alive,” Rakhi says. “Mind you, it is a lot of work not to be a living corpse. Amitabh Bachchan once said that wherever he stands, the line begins there. I want to say that wherever I stand, culture begins. It is what it is; now what to do?”