Taapsee Pannu’s Rashmi Rocket Based on a True Story?

Taapsee Pannu-starrer Rashmi Rocket is one of the most awaited movies in Bollywood. Directed by Akarsh Khurana, the film is a fictional story and is vaguely inspired by the struggles of several female athletes. Taapsee portrays the role of Rashmi, a National-level player who is more popularly known as Rocket in her peers due to her running skills. She worked hard to achieve the athletic physique required in the Rashmi Rocket film. In the trailer, Rashmi is forced to take a gender verification test because people have tagged her as “mardana” based on her appearance. In this humiliating outdated practice, she is told, “aap apne sare kapde utar lijiye”. The test results declared that she has a medical condition called hyperandrogenism. Rashmi gets banned from competing in women sports and faces discrimination for not being conventionally feminine.

A publication shared Taapsee’s photo with the caption, “Guess who?” and a Twitter user commented on her “manly” physique. The user commented, “Ye mard ki body wali sirf Taapsee hi ho sakti hai. [This manly physique can only be Taapsee Pannu’s.]” Reacting to the tweet, Pannu gave a powerful response and said, “All I will say is…Just remember this line and wait for September 23. And advance mein Thank you, I really worked hard for this compliment.”

India’s National record-holder in 100 m, Dutee Chand has a similar story. She was deemed ineligible to take part in sports because of hyperandrogenism. Dutee was shunned from India’s Commonwealth and Asian Games teams in 2014. Hyperandrogenism is a medical condition in which the female body produces more testosterone, almost the same as in men. However, holding anyone accountable for factors like genetics and testosterone levels that are naturally present in your body is just unfair. Dutee fought for a body she was born with and qualified for the Women’s 100 m event at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

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Another Indian female athlete is Santhi Sounderajan. She won 12 international medals for India and around 50 medals for her home state of Tamil Nadu. Santhi is the first Tamil woman to win a medal at the Asian Games. She was let down by India after failing a gender test that she was not aware of. Dr Arun Kumar Mendiratta, the chairman of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Medical Commission, brought her in for a gender test but did not disclose the reason. The test reports sent to the Indian Olympic Association stated, ‘Soundarajan does not possess the sexual characteristics of a woman.’ Lalit Bhanot, the then secretary of AFI, conveyed to her to stop competing. And just like that, Santhi got stripped of her achievements and was left shattered. Irrespective of all the setbacks faced by Santhi. She managed to get back on track and is now a permanent athletics coach under SDAT (Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu).

Women athletes are forced to undergo the humiliating gender test and are called transgender and eunuch solely based on their appearances. Rashmi Rocket questions the gender testing practice in sports and shows that powerful athletes could even be a woman, breaking the notions of femininity.

The ZEE5 Original film is produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Neha Anand and Pranjal Khandhdiya. Starring Priyanshu Painyuli, Abhishek Banerjee, Supriya Pathak and Shweta Tiwari in prominent roles, the Rashmi Rocket movie trailer was released on September 23, and the film is set to premiere on the platform on 15th October.