Patruni Chidananda Sastry

At 21, I came out to the world as a gender-fluid person through a local newspaper feature that made headlines. On the surface, it seemed straightforward. But as I continued to understand and name my gender, I realized that fluidity didn’t point to a single, fixed identity for me. Around the same time, fashion brands began using the term “gender-fluid” to market clothing. Each time I saw my identity reduced to a label for garments, it felt as though my gender was being treated

An evening while sipping a lebu cha with two samosas, in my early college days when I see the name ‘Chandalika’, a play written by Rabindranath Tagore listed to be premiered the very next day. I force a couple of friends who manage to get the tickets and watched the entire show. That was the very first time I was introduced to the Heroines of Rabindranath Tagore. It was a little amusing to be a south Indian Telegu kid in love with Tagore’s Bengali literature. Half my life has

That photo project, captured by Sujit Nair , holds a very intimate place in my journey as a drag artist. It was not just a series of portraits—it was documentation of transformation in its most vulnerable and powerful form. The camera did not merely photograph a finished drag persona; it followed the in-between moments. The half-drawn eyebrow. The contour still unblended. The lashes waiting to be placed. The silence before the character emerges. The process of becoming a drag

Ponniyin Selvan, a classic Tamil novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy, has captivated readers with its vivid portrayals of historical characters, intricate plot, and beautiful language. One of the most intriguing characters in the book is Kundhavai, the sister of the Chola king. Her strength, intelligence, and courage make her a fascinating character to study and emulate. Recently, I found inspiration in Kundhavai and decided to celebrate her spirit through drag. Drag is a form of pe

Bharatanatyam, one of the oldest classical dance forms of India, is not just a performance art but a medium that conveys stories, emotions, and philosophical concepts through precise movements. Central to this language of expression are the Asamyuta Hastas  — the single-hand gestures — which form the foundational vocabulary of Bharatanatyam. Each Hasta carries a unique symbolism and emotion, allowing the dancer to narrate intricate stories with grace and clarity. In collabora

TMy first photo series with photographer Manab Das feels, even now, like the prologue to everything that followed in my visual journey. It was not just a shoot; it was a moment of arrival — a quiet, personal declaration of my presence as an artist rooted in Hyderabad. We chose Charminar deliberately. Not simply because it is iconic, but because it is alive — layered with memory, commerce, devotion, and constant motion. To step into that space as a classical dancer was to ente

I had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with Sai and their team , the visionary art warriors, on a project that pushed my drag aesthetic into uncharted territory. For this series, I explored an androgynous French-inspired drag look , adorned in a sparkling glamour dress paired with a dramatic French boa. The outfit itself shimmered with glitter and movement, but the magic came alive through Sai’s lens, as they redefined the way light and form interact with the body. T

I had a question that refused to leave me alone: why can’t a man be the bride?  Not the groom on a horse, not the best man adjusting a turban, not the cheerful cousin dancing at the edge of the ritual — but the bride herself. The one seated at the center, draped in red, layered in gold, carrying centuries of expectation on her body. In the Indian imagination, the bride is more than a person; she is a symbol. She embodies beauty, sacrifice, transition, fertility, family honor,

Not the kind that only exists on protest placards or in courtrooms, but the kind that lives quietly inside homes, inside marriages, inside the way we choose to raise a child. For me, activism was not merely about speaking on panels or performing on stage as SAS. It became deeply personal the moment I chose to be both a father and a drag artist at the same time. To call myself a father was intentional. A binary-led word, yes. A political word, absolutely. But also a word of my

This project began at dawn, in the quiet tension between the private and the public. Inside a sleeping home, drag was first assembled as an intimate ritual — layers of primer, paint, fabric, and courage built slowly while the world remained unaware. But the intention was never to keep it contained. The goal was to carry this constructed self into a space that was ordinary, crowded, and unmistakably real. Set in Hyderabad — a city where visibility for queer people can still in

Shadowing you that night felt less like documentation and more like slipping into a living, breathing organism. As we moved through the humid evening air of Hyderabad, the anticipation was palpable—makeup catching stray streetlight, the soft rustle of fabric announcing the spectacle to come. Puneet walked quietly beside you, camera ready but never intrusive, as though he understood that the real subject was not just the look, but the atmosphere gathering around it. Inside Gig

This photo project, created in collaboration with photographer Apurva Gupta, emerged during a time when conversations around marriage equality in Rajasthan were gaining urgency and public attention. It was conceived as both an artistic response and a political reflection—an attempt to translate a legal demand into a visual narrative. At its core, the project asserts that marriage equality is not simply a legislative necessity but a recognition of love, dignity, and the right

In collaboration with photographer Manav Das , Navarasa of the Goddess  becomes a meditation on femininity—not as biology, not as motherhood, but as an expansive, political, spiritual force. Through my body in drag, draped in a white saree instead of the customary red, I reimagine Durga not as a distant deity frozen in victory, but as a living embodiment of feminine emotion in a fractured society. Traditionally, Durga is clothed in red—symbol of shakti, fertility, blood, powe

There are certain works that feel less like projects and more like thresholds. Butohnatyam  was one such threshold for me — a space where my training, my drag, my politics, and my spiritual curiosities collided. While I was learning Butoh with Adam Kuan, I began to understand that Butoh is not merely a dance form from Japan; it is a philosophy of dismantling. Born in post-war resistance, Butoh rejects decorative beauty and instead invites the body to confront trauma, decay, a

In 2019, at the height of the global reckoning ignited by the Me Too movement , Abhyangana  emerged—not as a spectacle, not as an accusation, but as an intimate exhale. The movement had opened floodgates. Survivors across industries were naming abuse, recounting violations, and exposing systems that had long thrived in silence. Yet beneath the headlines and hashtags was another quieter, heavier truth: many stories remained unspoken, especially those buried within close-knit a

There are rituals you inherit. And then, there are rituals you create. The Matrika Project came from my need to reimagine what faith and...

Kodolibala is not just a photo shoot. It’s a story I needed to tell—one that blends tradition with science fiction, gender with glitch,...

As a drag artist deeply connected to Indian classical traditions, I’ve always been fascinated by the Dasa Mahavidya —the ten fierce forms...

When I was Young, I always had the thought that I was different. It made me remind that I was not someone whom the society terms to be. I...

Art has never been a fixed idea for me. It’s something that evolved as I began understanding the world and the strange, sometimes...