For years, Deepavali meant four days behind closed doors for Jeeva Subramaniam. Rice and lentils were bought in advance. The door stayed shut. The phone stayed quiet. That changed in 2026, and the Tamil actress says a film called Dorothy is the reason.
Four Days of Silence Every Deepavali
Jeeva, a transgender actress who plays a key supporting role in Karthik Subbaraj’s Dorothy, shared the story in a long Facebook post this week. She left her family home four days before Deepavali years ago, at a point when she was still working out who she was. She described the departure as a moment of immense pain and a deep shift in her life, happening at an age when she did not fully understand her own path.
What followed became a yearly routine. Jeeva would stock up on rice and lentils, enough to last four days, and stay indoors with her doors shut. She avoided social contact completely and stepped out only for film shoots. The rest of the festival passed in complete solitude, she wrote in the post.
“Each year, leading up to Diwali, I would stock up on essentials like rice and lentils – enough to last me for four days. During the festival, I would stay indoors, keeping my doors shut and avoiding any social contact. I would only step out for a film shoot; otherwise, I spent those four days in complete solitude. But this year, everything in my life has changed!” she wrote.
Birthdays were not celebrated either. Jeeva said she had gone years without marking her own birthday. The festival season and her birthday both passed quietly, year after year, while her work in films and web series continued away from the public eye.
A Birthday Cake, Bought and Eaten Alone
Deepavali 2026 looked different. Messages and wishes arrived from viewers across the world after Dorothy reached theatres and then Netflix. For the first time, Jeeva decided to mark her own birthday. She went to a shop, bought a cake, cut it at home and ate it by herself. She called it a small thing that brought her immense joy, as she told India Today.
“I went to a shop, bought a cake, cut it, and enjoyed eating it – all by myself. It might seem like a small thing, but for me, it brought immense joy!”
She did not buy new clothes or firecrackers for Deepavali this year. Even so, the actress said the festival felt different because of the response to her work. Hindustan Times quoted her saying that for the first time in many years, she experienced Deepavali with a heart full of happiness, and that the biggest reason for the change was Karthik Subbaraj, whom she calls her younger brother.
“For the first time in many years, I am experiencing this Deepavali with a heart full of happiness. The most significant reason for this transformation is my dear younger brother, the director Karthik Subbaraj. He was the first to recognise my talent, place his trust in me, and create an opportunity for me. I never imagined that this opportunity would bring such beautiful changes—not just to my professional journey, but to my personal life as well.”
The Director She Calls Her Younger Brother
Jeeva has been direct about what the role did for her career. She said Karthik was the first person to recognise her talent and trust her with an opportunity that changed both her professional and personal life, according to Times Now. She also said she would always remember and celebrate the people who stood by her when it mattered.
“I have always believed in remembering and celebrating the good deeds, contributions, and help that others have extended to us at the right time. It doesn’t matter to me who chooses to celebrate or who doesn’t; I will always celebrate those who have done good,” she wrote, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The appreciation also came from the film’s lead cast. Jeeva said Karthik Subbaraj, Rishikanth, Sananth and Keerthy Suresh keep mentioning her and calling her “Jeeva Akka” wherever they go. That affection, she said, means a great deal to her, in an interview shared by MyKollywood.
“For the first time, I feel that my work is being celebrated. I have been waiting for this moment for so many years, and it has finally happened through my younger brother Karthik Subbaraj.”
The House She Was Denied
The same week brought a harder story. Jeeva shared that her search for a peaceful place to live had become a painful experience. She said she had faced many hardships in life, but being refused a house while simply looking for somewhere to live peacefully hurt her more than the rest, according to The Times of India.
“I have crossed so many hardships and problems in my life. None of them hurt me as much as being denied a house when I was simply looking for a place to live peacefully.”
She had posted a video of herself crying earlier that day and then deleted it. Jeeva explained that she had always felt her tears should stay private, and she did not like seeing herself in that state. She asked people not to misunderstand the decision. The experience did not change her goal. She wrote that one day she will buy her own house in the very same place where she was denied one, and that she trusts her hard work and her journey to get her there.
Nearly 45 Projects Before This One
Dorothy is not Jeeva’s first screen appearance. Her filmography runs to roughly 45 film and web projects, including Aakkam, Thaarai Thappattai, Dharmadurai, Darbar, the web series Suzhal and Kaiyum Kalavum, and Karathey Babu, according to MyKollywood. In 2018, she won the best actress award at a transgender short film and documentary festival in Madurai for her work in Thiru Thai Avalae, when she was 26, The Times of India reported at the time.
Recognition on this scale took years to arrive. Jeeva said that although people have responded warmly to her performance in Dorothy, she is yet to receive her next opportunity and continues to pursue new roles, as she told MyKollywood.
What Dorothy Is About
Set in 1990s Madurai, Dorothy follows two childhood friends, Karthi (Rishikanth) and Subbu (Sananth), growing up in a world shaped by caste, violence and rigid ideas of masculinity. Subbu’s journey to embracing her identity as a trans woman sits at the centre of the story, with Keerthy Suresh playing the title character. Jeeva appears as Transgender Amma, a trans elder in the community, according to the cast listing at Radio Times.
The film is directed by Karthik Subbaraj, written by Subbaraj and Saravanan Chandran, produced by Guneet Monga Kapoor, Achin Jain and Jyoti Deshpande, and scored by Ilaiyaraaja. It carries an A certificate in India, which restricted theatrical viewing to adults, The Week reported.
Dorothy premiered at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival before its Tamil theatrical release on 25 September 2026. A Telugu version arrived on 2 October 2026. The film collected roughly ₹18 crore worldwide, with India net collections of about ₹15.20 crore, per trade tracker Sacnilk, as cited by The Week.
Netflix began streaming the film on 23 October 2026 in five languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi, CineJosh confirmed.
The Boycott Calls the Film Faced
Dorothy drew a wave of online criticism over its queer and transgender themes, with a section of users on X calling for a boycott under #BoycottDorothy. The film was also reportedly denied a theatrical release in Malaysia over its LGBTQ+ content.
Karthik dismissed the online anger as unrepresentative of the people actually watching the film.
“Twitter is a small world and those who think about my film like what you said belong to a smaller world. But audiences who are watching a movie are bigger. Why should we be talking about that?” he told reporters, according to The Indian Express.
The director said he hoped the film could shift how audiences treat transgender people. He told Hindustan Times that the film had become a mirror to realities and harsh truths that people often fail to acknowledge, and that some men had expressed guilt over how they treated transgender people in the past.
“With Dorothy, I hope that change translates into a more positive attitude towards transgender people — treating them with dignity, accepting them and recognising them as an integral part of society. Their stories, struggles and realities deserve to be represented on screen. If the film can contribute even a little towards that change, that is a victory for me.”
Dorothy is now streaming on Netflix in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.
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