Aliz Ghimire, who plays Apsara from ‘Elephants in the Fog’, has joined us for a chat! We talked to her about her journey into becoming an actress, trans rights in Nepal, and how her identity grew with the movie.
Aliz: My name is Aliz, and I’m a trans woman, and I am an actor and an artist. I mostly do fashion exhibitions in Nepal. I mean, that’s what I have been doing until I signed the film. Right now, I’m currently busy promoting the film, as you know. And I also do theater. Um but, yeah, overall, I am an artist, based in Kathmandu. And, uh yeah, it has not been long that I’ve transitioned. It’s very new for me.
Please tell me about what the movie is about, and what characters you’re playing!
Aliz: The film revolves around a chosen family, and focuses on the relationship of a Kinnar mother and daughter in a part of Nepal called Terai. Pushpa plays Pirati, who is the mother figure, and I play Apsara, the daughter figure.
In the village they are settled in, the villagers are constantly disturbed by elephants, and each night, a member of the village is tasked with patrolling the village to keep it safe. However, one day when Apsara is doing a night patrol, she goes missing. The main plot of the film revolves around Pirati’s search for her missing daughter, while navigating the complications of her own life at the same time.
What drew each of you to act in this film, and do you think there are any parallels between your life and your characters’ life?
Aliz: In Nepal, they don’t typically make a lot of films related to trans people, or even queer people. When they do cast trans people in films, the negative stereotypes are still there – we are mostly portrayed as the comical relief, villains, or prostitutes.
However, when I got the script of this film after I auditioned for it, it was the first time I have ever seen a writer genuinely so invested in our story rather than trying to portray us in a certain comical way. They wanted to highlight how our lives are, and that was the main driving point for me to do this film.
It was clear that Abinash Bikram Shah, the director of the film, has done a lot of research on the community, and has taken his time to meet and get to know trans people, especially those from the Kinnar community.
While I felt like my life is quite similar to Apsara’s, there are still a few differences because I was born in the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, and I’ve had a lot of privileges that other trans women don’t get, especially if they don’t live in the capitals. I also actually don’t consider myself Kinnar because I’m an atheist, but I do follow a lot of their history.
These are both of your first roles in acting; what was it like dipping your toes into the world of acting?
Aliz: For me, it hasn’t been that drastic of a change because i’ve been working in the entertainment industry for the past eight years now, almost. Since 2018, I’ve worked in productions, and i’ve worked as a makeup artist, set designer, and a stylist. So it’s actually been quite a journey that I’ve already had in the industry.
In fact, my original goal was to be an actress, but I quickly realized that a role was extremely hard to come by for me because of my gender identity. The only other role I had was in a friend’s short film, which I originally wanted to turn down because it featured a gay guy with sex scenes involved. However, every other actor in film school also turned the role down, so I did it as a favour to him.
However, because of my involvement in that short film, the director of this film noticed me and called me for an audition. I had my doubts, but after learning more about this story and attending a little workshop, I became more certain that I wanted to be Apsara because of how unique and beautifully this story was written.
How would you say your previous backgrounds working genderfluid fashion and the arts (Aliz) helped you prepare for these roles?
Actually, one of the main reasons I think I got the role was because of my gender fluidity. [Spoiler warning] This film required me to act as both Aspara and Aspara’s twin brother as well, and it was really no big deal for me to dip into both aspects of my life and embrace femininity and masculinity as well.
However, I would say that I’ve grown with this movie – while i still consider myself gender fluid, this role has helped me realize that I wanted to medically transition. I realised later on when I was looking back on the times in the film set that I was definitely happier during the filming because I was presenting the way I have always wanted to present; and half a year later, I came to the conclusion that was what I really wanted after having some time to sit with it and process those feelings.
So after like a year after filming, I finally came to terms with the fact that I wanted to live as a trans woman full time. I came out to my parents after that, started my hormones, and I could not be happier now!
This movie heavily explores the Kinnar community in Nepal – can you explain what the Kinnar identity or community is to people who might not be familiar with it? How is it similar or different from the trans identities as we know it in our current ?
The Kinnar community is actually a subcommunity within the community of trans women – they follow a specific culture, and have a lot of traditions, rules and regulations. According to a quote that my friend who follows the Kinnar community – “Not every transgender person is Kinnar, but every Kinnar person is transgender.”
They are a specific group of people who believe in worshipping and blessing people, and they believe that their existence has a very divine, powerful purpose. It is definitely a very unique aspect of queer community that does not have a lot of light shed on it yet.
These Kinnars were worshipped right after Gods – There are Devis (Gods), Danavs (Devils), and Kinnars have a separate segment for themselves. Because they embody both masculinity and femininity, it is believed that they are a powerful, divine being right after Gods, and above humans. They also follow this particular culture, and they worship this goddess called Bahuchara Mata. Since hundreds of years ago, their main job is to give blessings to people – they are usually sought out by married couples, or people who are looking to give birth.
However, the Kinnar community are also bound by a lot of rules and religious practices. They have their own ceremonies – ceremonies of celebration, ceremonies of punishment if someone has done something really bad. They also have huge adopted families – the daughters are expected to take care of their adopted mothers, and so on and so forth. It used to be really strict, but I think it’s a lot more lenient now.
I would recommend watching Project Kinara on Youtube if you’d like to know more!
Within the film, there are strong themes of found family, and its importance for queer people. Can you tell me what found family means to you, how it appears in your life, how it compares to the movie?
Yea, definitely, I would say there are a lot of people who find chosen family, especially within friend groups. At the end of the day, as queer people, we are sort of alienated from the rest of the country, or even the rest of the world. Our rights aren’t necessarily guaranteed, and when people judge the way you live everyday, we do find solace within our own friend groups.
Even outside of the Kinnar community, chosen family structures do exist here. Organisations, event organisers and NGOs like Blue Diamond Society, QYZ who give this sense of security and family to a lot of queer people like myself. I’d say I have managed to make a really good set of friends – I have my own group of people who I call my chosen family. They have been there for me for my highs and lows, and I think that’s what the family means. We find acceptance within ourselves.
Nepal has been hailed as one of South Asia’s most queer friendly countries – recently same sex marriage has been legalized, and a trans legislator has been elected as well. As a trans person living in Nepal, what are your lived experiences in your country, and do you think any areas can be improved?
In Nepal, because we were never colonized, queer people have never really been criminalised, y’know? Like I said earlier, we are a very Hindu country to our core, so while people still subconsciously have different ideas about the existence of trans people, our existence is not as questioned compared to other South Asian or Asian countries in general.
Here’s the thing – so a lot of what the media shows can be very fabricated too. I mean, while gay marriage has been legalized, it hasn’t fully been implemented yet, and getting married can be still be a struggle. Especially when it comes to things like property rights and adoption rights etc., things are not fully spelt out or mentioned. So technically it is mentioned in the law, but it will take you forever to get accepted because there are still a lot of loopholes. We do have a trans person, Bhumika Shrestha, as one of the parliament members, but as it’s just been a year, so we’re still hoping for the best. A lot of the positive queer news also comes during pride month as well, to promote pink tourism.
But while Nepal is definitely on the safer side; I feel that it is uneven because so much of our activism is very centralised in capitals and big cities. There are so many parts of Nepal where people are unaware of people like us, or have a lot of misconceptions about us. Even here in Kathmandu, we still get a lot of stares, and my friends and I do still move around in groups because we’re still afraid of getting hate crimed.
So even if Nepal is definitely on the safer end, things are a lot grayer in real life, rather than being black and white.
Finally, do you have any advice or encouragement for trans folk who are living in this current global political climate that is incredibly hostile towards us, who might be feeling dejected or hopeless?
I don’t know if I am in a state to even say something about it, because of how the world is regressing at this point.
We’re so much better than this. It’s 2026, and it’s about time we accepted people for who they are, regardless of what they wear, or who they want to be. It’s so saddening to see people still trying to fight against our existence, even though we have been fighting for our place on this earth for hundreds of years now. It’s sad to see society regressing so much – we can’t skin ourselves and show them our flesh and hearts to give them an idea off what we go through.
So, I would say the most important thing is to please be safe, and to keep fighting. We need to hold our stance to honor Martha P. Johnson and everything she lived for. We’ll find a lot of wys to retaliate, and we’ll make sure that we survive and thrive in the end.
News
