Kanchana

Raghava Lawrence's 2011 Tamil film is the second entry in the Muni series, fusing horror with comedy, and the most cited work of his career. A timid young man is possessed by three spirits and starts behaving like a woman; the exorcist his mother calls uncovers a story of social injustice, murder and revenge behind it. The character Kanchana at the centre is a trans woman, and the story addresses discrimination against and the killing of trans people directly, an unexpected choice for mainstream Tamil cinema at the time. Against that, the first half makes the possessed man's feminine behaviour into comic material, and the two attitudes contradict each other. It was a large commercial success and the series continued. Who it's for: viewers interested in Tamil horror comedy and Raghava Lawrence's work. Who it's not for: anyone troubled by trans identity used as comic material, or avoiding scenes of violence and lynching.