Sushant Divgikar, also known as Rani Ko-HE-Nur, is an Indian model, actor, singer, columnist, motivational speaker, drag queen, pageant director, and video jockey. In July 2014, they were crowned Mr Gay India 2014. They represented India at Mr Gay World 2014. They won various special awards during Mr Gay World 2014, and have been the only delegate from India to win three sub awards. Divgikar is the first Indian and the first delegate from any country to have won a record 3 individual sub titles and 2 group sub titles at the Mr Gay World 2014 contest. They participated in the television reality show '' Bigg Boss 8''. Divgikar, in their

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

persona Rani Ko-HE-Nur, created history by becoming the first drag queen in India to participate in a singing reality show and win the golden buzzer, making Rani / Sushant the first contestant from the LGBTQIA+ community to win a golden buzzer and directly enter the top 15 of the reality competition show ''

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa ''Sa Re Ga Ma Pa'' is an Indian Hindi-language reality singing television show. It started airing on Zee TV in 1995 as ''Sa Re Ga Ma''. It is the oldest running game show in India as well as the oldest show on private television in India. The ...

'' in the year 2018. In 2021, under their drag persona, they were announced to be competing in the premiere season of '' Queen of the Universe'', an international singing competition for drag performers. The series premiered on December 2, 2021. Divgikar has featured in many television shows and has worked with most of the leading broadcasting channels, agencies and production houses, nationally and internationally.

Early life and background

Divgikar was born and raised in the western suburbs of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, in their family home in Bandra West. Divgikar was born to Goan Konkani parents, Pradeep Divgikar and Bharati Divgikar. Their father, Pradeep is a retired Assistant Commissioner, Indian Customs and Central Excise and former President of the Greater Mumbai Amateur Aquatics Association (GMAAA).

Career

Divgikar started their TV career with UTV Bindass's ''Big Switch'' Season 3 directed by

Rohit Shetty Rohit Shetty (born 14 March 1974) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, stuntman, producer and television personality who works in Hindi cinema. A notable director of Hindi cinema, his movies often mix the genres of action comedy and masala f ...

. They then did ''Atyachaar Ka Punchnama'' for UTV Bindass as a host. They were a contestant on Color TV's '' Bigg Boss 8''. They participated in Mr Gay World 2014. They were among the top 10 finalists and is the first person in the history of the pageant to have three sub awards – Mister Gay World Congeniality 2014, Mister People's Choice & Mister Gay World Art 2014. They have also worked on TV commercials for brands like Maruti Suzuki,

MTV India MTV is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of the original American network and is owned by JioStar, under a license agreement with Par ...

Channel V Channel '' ("V" as in the letter, not the Roman numeral "5") is a Chinese and former Asian pay television musical network originally launched by Star TV Hong Kong (now Disney Networks Group Asia Pacific). It was part of the unit of Disney In ...

India, Idea mobiles. Alongside acting and TV, they won several awards and titles between 2011 and 2013. In 2015, they were the guest in Colors TV's ''

India's Got Talent India's Got Talent is a televised Indian Hindi, Hindi language talent show series and is part of the ''Got Talent franchise''. The program is produced and distributed by Fremantle (company), Fremantle and Syco Entertainment. The show aired on C ...

'' and Zoom's ''Style Panga''. They were also the guest in the grand finale of &TV's ''Killerr Karaoke Atka Toh Latkah''. Two documentary films, both based on their life, have been nominated and screened at various national and international festivals. Presently, they will soon be seen in an online series ''Love, Life and Screw Ups''. Divgikar, both in and out of drag, was listed as one of GQ's 50 Most Influential Young Indians of 2018.

''Queen of the Universe''

In November 2021, they were announced as one of fourteen contestants on the debut season of '' Queen of the Universe'', an international drag queen singing competition, and a spin-off of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''.

Filmography

Television

Music videos

Web series

Discography

Singles

Featured singles

Awards and nominations

*Mr. Gay world India 2014 – Won *Mr. Congeniality, Mr. Gay world 2014 – Won *Mr. People's choice, Mr. Gay world 2014 – Won *Mr. Arts challenge, Mr. Gay world, 2014 – Nominated *Team sports challenge, Mr. Gay world 2014 – Nominated *Team Arts challenge, Mr. Gay world 2014 – Nominated *Mr. Gay world, 2014, Rome – Top 10 Grand Finalist *Best Anchor in a reality or music and danced based, Indian Television Academy Awards (Atyachaar Ka Punchnama) – Nominated

Personal life

Divgikar has an older brother, Karan Divgikar, who works as a flight attendant at Qatar Airways. Divgikar is a certified

Psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

and holds a master's degree in

Industrial psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology) "focuses the lens of psychological science on a key aspect of human life, namely, their work lives. In general, the goals of I-O psychology are to better understand and optimize the effec ...

. In January 2021, Divgikar came out as

genderfluid Gender fluidity (commonly referred to as genderfluid) is a non-fixed gender identity that shifts over time or depending on the situation. These fluctuations can occur at the level of gender identity or gender expression. A genderfluid person m ...

via an Instagram post, stating their

pronouns In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun ( glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not con ...

are "he", "she", and "

they In Modern English, ''they'' is a third-person pronoun relating to a grammatical subject. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''they'' has five distinct word forms: * ''they'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''them'': the accus ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Divgikar, Sushant Beauty pageant contestants from Mumbai Living people Indian male models Indian gay actors 21st-century Indian male actors Indian LGBTQ entertainers Indian LGBTQ models Gay models Indian beauty pageant winners Marathi people Male beauty pageant winners Year of birth missing (living people) Non-binary models Non-binary drag performers Indian non-binary actors Indian drag queens 21st-century Indian singers LGBTQ psychologists Non-binary gay people Indian television actors Genderfluid drag performers Genderfluid actors