Patruni Sastry is a pansexual who embreced his sexuality and is expressing it through drag art.

Patruni Sastry is an IT professional. Along with that, he is a drag artist.

Patruni was born and raised in Kharagpur, West Bengal. He was a talented dancer from a very young age, and upon noticing that, his father got him enrolled in a dance class.

Patruni says, during his teenage, he was getting good at dance while also becoming aware of his queer sexuality. At that time, he was subjected to rigorous bullying at the hands of his classmates and used to face regular harassment in the form of gender discrimination. However, his principal in school was aware of his dancing talent and encouraged him to keep dancing.

When Patruni joined college, he got to know about the LGBT rights movement and became completely aware of his sexuality. And in 2017, he finally came out as a gender-fluid person. He informed his family about it, and to his surprise they were quite perceptive and accommodating about it.

Patruni got a job as a Customer Service Executive and then switched to the field of HRM. In the meantime, he also used to perform at queer events. He also got associated with various NGOs offering them to use his dancing skills to promote their issues. He even convinced his manager to let him give official presentations through his dance.

While visiting one of the queer events, Patruni witnessed a performance by a drag queen, which impressed him. Eventually, he also gathered the courage to perform as a drag queen and the show, unexpectedly, was a success.

Talking about his achievements, Patruni says that he has got the opportunity to perform at both the state and the central government-sponsored cultural events like ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) events. He says that his plan for the future is to take drag art to the ground level where everyone can understand and take part in it. Along with that, he is also planning to open a drag school. He aspires to feature on the front page of Vogue Magazine. He would also like to deliver more Ted Talks in future.

When asked about his role models, Patruni says that he is a vessel which is filled with multiple inspirations. He elaborates that his first dance teacher, Daniel Lismore (a UK-based sculptor), his fellow drag queens, and various Indian traditions similar to drag art are his inspirations. He also admires his parents’ compassion and understanding nature for him.

Patruni advises his fellow queers to not hesitate and accept themselves for who they are and confidently come out. He also advises everyone else to ask questions and try to learn about the queer culture.