When mythological and social dramas made their appearance in the early decades of the twentieth century, the female roles were mostly played by men. In folk theatre too, men played important female characters. Given below are the photographs of some male actors dressed as women. Women have also played the male roles, specially in folk theatre and some of those photographs are also given below.

K.S. Ananthanarayanan was a professional theatre artiste in the Tamil theatre in the twenties and thirties. He had a drama troupe of his own called the Arya Gana Sabha in Madurai. The photographs above were taken in Karnatic Studio, Madras, 1931/ 32.

K. S. Anantanarayanan, a professional artiste.
Portrait of K. S. Anantanarayanan.

K. Mahadev and Narayan Naidu and Ramachandra Rao were actors in the theatre company of the legendary theatre personality in Kannada theatre, Gubbi Veeranna. These photographs were collected from the albums of Gubbi Veeranna’s daughter, Malathamma.

On the left, Ramachandra Rao as Kamala. On the right, Narayan Naidu as Mrinalini. Still from play 'Raja Bhakti', 1929.
K. Mahadev dressed as a woman in a play.
Narayan Naidu dressed as a woman.
Date: 22/03/2002 Place: Erode Photographer: L. Thangaraj

In folk theatre, men still play female roles. In the Kongu region of Tamilnadu, there are certain folk plays which are performed, of the legendary heroes of the region. Ponnar-Sankar is one such play. In the photograph above, two men are playing the roles of women in the play. On the left is Gopal and on the right is Raju in a crucial scene. This photograph was taken a few months ago in a demonstration performance.

There are many women who do both male and female roles in folk theatre. Given below are a few photographs of K. R. Ambika who has been doing male roles from the age of eleven and who continues to enact male roles even now at the age of 65. These photographs were taken during a recent demonstration performance given by her in a village in Karur district. The last photograph is of her father who was famous for playing female roles.

K. R. Ambika on right as Harishchandra in 'Harishchandra' play. Place: Melalakshmanampatti Date: 28/09/2002
K. R. Ambika on right as Madurai Veeran in 'Madurai Veeran' play. Place: Melalakshmanampatti Date: 28/09/2002
K. R. Ambika on right as Vedan (hunter) in 'Valli Thirumanam' play. On her right is her daughter K. R. Indira. Place: Melalakshmanampatti Date: 28/09/2002
K. R. Ambika on right as Vedan (hunter) in 'Valli Thirumanam' play. Place: Melalakshmanampatti Date: 28/09/2002
Thadikombu A Ponniah, Vijaya Studio, Dindigul.