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“Aman,” writer-director Rahul Roye’s short film about a trans man who discovers he is pregnant on the eve of his gender-affirming surgery, has attached Nikkhil Advani and Dominique Welinski as executive producers.
The
film will have its world premiere in the Short Cuts competition at the Toronto Film Festival, running Sept. 10–20.
Advani, the director of “Kal Ho Naa Ho” and co-founder of Emmay Entertainment – whose producing credits include “D-Day,” “Batla House” and the Prime Video series “Mumbai Diaries 26/11” – joins Welinski, whose work includes the Berlinale selection “Shadowbox,” in the executive producer role alongside Stephen Harmaty. Their attachment brings mainstream industry reach to a project built from the ground up around queer and trans authenticity.
“Rahul has made an intimate film with extraordinary emotional clarity, and I am proud to support its journey to audiences around the world,” Advani said.
The film is produced by Apoorva Bakshi for Awedacious Originals, Elle León Nostas for Aymara Films, Neeraj Churi for Lotus Visual Productions, and Tushar Tyagi and Abid Aziz Merchant. It is co-written by Roye and León Nostas.
“Aman” is a U.K.-U.S.-India-France co-production, shot in the Hindi and Bengali languages. The cast includes Kabir Maan, who makes his screen debut in the title role, alongside Sirat Taneja, Guntaj Deep Singh and Satakshi Nandy. Maan and Taneja are both prominent voices in India’s transgender movement; Taneja previously appeared at Toronto in Deepa Mehta’s documentary “I Am Sirat.” The filmmakers describe the casting as a landmark for transmasculine representation in Indian cinema, noting that no trans role in the film goes to a non-trans actor.
The production also made a first-order commitment that 100% of cast and crew are queer-identifying or active queer allies.
Roye’s film arrives against a charged political backdrop. India’s 2026 amendment to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act removes the right to self-identification, strips the explicit recognition of trans men, trans women and genderqueer people from the law’s definition of “transgender person,” and places legal recognition in the hands of medical boards and state authorities.
“‘Aman’ is my attempt to create space for bodies and identities that refuse simplification and celebrate individuality. Pregnancy is one of the most deeply gendered experiences in our societies, ritualized, politicized, and controlled. By placing a trans man at its center, the film exposes how fragile our definitions of gender truly are. It is ultimately a film about becoming,” Roye said.
The producers added: “At a time when trans lives are being erased, legislated against, silenced and pushed further into the margins across the world, Rahul came to us with a vision so potent it left no room for hesitation.”
“Aman” is supported by the Sumitra Gupta Foundation for the Arts and the Kashish Q Drishti Film Grant, presented by the Kashish Arts Foundation, with additional support from Renuka Shahane and Lotus Visual Productions. The film marks Roye’s third short, following “Man & Wife” and “A Lullaby for Yellow Roses.”
