Somridho, a model and filmmaker wants to make being gender-fluid more mainstream (Picture: Tshiella D)

When 19-year-old Somriddho Dasgupta moved to London from New Delhi, India, he decided to sculpt a new version of himself.

Now a filmmaker, Somriddho’s style – inspired by RuPaul’s Drag Race – is bold, androgynous and gender fluid.

Being gender fluid is when someone doesn’t identify themselves as having a fixed gender. The person might prefer to use ‘they’ pronouns instead of he/she. Somridho prefers he/his.

When he grew up in India, which he left as a 15-year-old, he was mocked for being ‘gentle and soft’.


He also came out as gay which his family is totally accepting of but at the time same-sex marriage was illegal in the country.



‘Acceptance for the LGBTQIA+ community was just low,’ Somridho explains to Metro.co.uk.

‘Even now it is still relatively hard to be gay in India as compared to being gay in London. I felt free when I moved there.

He adds: ‘I could finally start expressing myself the way I wanted to. The first thing that I did when I moved to the UK was buy myself a nose ring and some nail paint, obviously!’

Though being gay and gender-fluid may have been considered unconventional in a traditional Indian family, Somridho’s parents never made him feel like an outsider.

He recalls one occasion where his dad called him up to congratulate him on one of the bold photoshoots Somridho regularly takes part in, as we works as a model on the side.

And while his parents still live in Delhi, Somridho manages to chat to them every day and go back home every six months.

As a gay, gender-fluid person who grew up in India, he’s had some tough times (Picture: Tshiella D)

‘I love my parents. They are very supportive,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.

‘They love me to pieces. It, of course, took them a while to get to this stage.

‘When I first told them I am gay (2016), they were quite shocked, a bit upset even. However, now they have reached a stage where they are really accepting.

‘I guess they love me so much that they just want me to be happy. And expressing myself in an androgynous manner makes me the happiest.’

That doesn’t mean that growing up as gay was any easier for Somridho.

While Somridho appreciates that India is changing its attitudes towards the LGBTQ community, in his adolescence it was difficult.

‘I love our culture and our traditions. It is a beautiful country, really diverse. But my experience with being gay, that was quite different.

‘Growing up, I had to pretend to have crushes on girls around my friends to feel accepted by them.

‘Right from a very young age, it is instilled in us that being feminine if you are a guy is wrong. My uncles and aunts would make fun of me for being too gentle and soft.



‘Obviously, they thought it was no big deal and they did not really mean to hurt me but it actually did hurt me. You see, casual homophobia is very common in India.’

He came to London at 15 where he’s also had some tough times (Picture: Somridho Dasgupta)

Somridho thinks that the Asian community is a little slower at accepting but is hopeful that attitudes are changing.

‘In our (Indian) culture, a lot of emphasis is placed on masculinity,’ he explains.

‘A man is expected to follow the traditional ideals of masculinity. Hence, when somebody does something that does not fit those ideals, everybody is shocked.

‘Progress has been made, of course. But there still is a long way to go.’

But that’s not to say the UK is an LGBTQ haven for Somridho. He’s had his fair share of intolerant attitudes here too.

‘I still face hate. I often get things thrown at me from moving cars. People scream slurs at me.

‘Even now, androgynous or gender-fluid people are too scared to express themselves, scared of the opposition they would face. Every year, numerous LGBTQIA+ people die in London as a result of hate crime.

‘But, did this stop me from expressing myself? No. I still walk out in public in my white fur trousers, my pearl covered glasses and my chunky earrings. I like to get a conversation going as language has power.

‘Good or bad, as long as people are talking about it, it is a victory for me because more people get to know about me, my style. They get to know that perhaps, they don’t have to be a man or a woman either.


‘They can be anything they want to be.’

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