Gangubai Kathiawadi could give wind to the sails of change in Bollywood’s hackneyed representation of sex workers

In the column Let’s Talk About Women, Sneha Bengani looks at films, the world of entertainment, and popular media through the feminist lens. Because it’s important. Because it’s needed. And because we’re not doing it enough.

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There is a scene in Laaga Chunari Mein Daag right after Shubhavari [Konkona Sensharma> finds out that her elder sister is a high-profile escort. Shocked, she is weeping at the stairs of a stepwell with a few diyas floating in the water, gleaming unassumingly in the background.

The elder sibling Vibhavari [Rani Mukerji> is draped in a black garish see-through saree, her face smeared with tears, shame, and guilt. Crying, she asks Shubha, “Ghinn aa rahi hai na humse?" [You feel disgusted by me, don’t you?>

The 2007 film, directed by Pradeep Sarkar, and produced by one of Bollywood’s biggest banners Yash Raj Films, is the story of how a young girl from Varanasi takes to sex work in Mumbai, and eventually finds love and acceptance despite it all. In telling this tale, the movie reinforced every problematic trope imaginable in the genre.

Take the title track for instance. It plays in the background throughout the film as Vibhavari’s story of misfortune unfolds. Its first two lines are: “Laaga chunari mein daag, chhupaun kaise? Ghar jaun kaise?" [My veil is stained. How do I hide it? Can I ever return home now?> In only nine words, the song shames sex workers, ostracises and alienates them, and reiterates that they can never return home. Wow.

Laaga Chunari Mein Daag is just one of the countless Hindi films that have contributed greatly to creating the popular image of sex work and prostitution in India. Whether they be from Kamathipura, GB Road, Lucknow, or Varanasi, they all have a doomed existence filled with tragedy, exploitation, abuse, and sorrow. Their existence has little light and no tomorrow.

If there is any hope at all, it comes in the guise of a man with a golden heart. Amar Prem, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Umrao Jaan, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Chori Chori Chup Ke Chup Ke, Chameli, Julie, Devdas, Talaash — the list of films that propagate and celebrate this deliciously palatable, deeply patriarchal construct is distressingly long. The reasons of the women of these films for entering the trade are many, but their road to rehabilitation is only one — the love of a man and domesticity.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali ’s upcoming Gangubai Kathiawadi could give wind to the sails of change brought about in this hackneyed narrative by films like Mandi, Dev.D, Begum Jaan, and Anaarkali of Aarah. Even if victims of circumstance, the women in these films are warriors of their stories, calling shots, fighting tooth and nail to get what they want, challenging the status quo, refusing to wear the skin of the bechaari abla naari that the world around them is too eager to smother them with.

Though sold by her partner to sex work at a young age, Gangubai rose to prominence, courtesy her chance association with mafia lord Karim Lala. She grew in power and used it to better the lives of the women of her trade. Arguably the most formidable woman of Mumbai’s Kamathipura in the 1960s, she even contested election and went on to meet the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to discuss her people and their problems.

However, Gangubai was not all work and no play. Known for her inimitable swag and unapologetic forthrightness, she was one of the rare few who owned a black Bentley in the ‘60s India, and ruled Mumbai’s underworld well into old age.

Now that is a real celebration of a rags-to-riches story.

If we are really concerned with the rehabilitation of sex workers, Shubhavari’s reaction to finding out about Vibha in Laaga Chunari Mein Daag is the first step in the right direction. We need to acknowledge that if there is any shame at all, it should be borne by us as a society, and not by sex workers. It is a systemic failure — we have failed countless women by not providing them enough windows to economic opportunity and empowerment.

The next step is acceptance. Once we achieve that, rights and rehabilitation will follow. Just like any other working professional, a sex worker should have the option of exploring other economic avenues and starting over. But unfortunately, in India, sex work is not just any other profession; it is a way of life. Once you fall into the loop, it is darn difficult, if not near impossible, to break out. And if you are one of the lucky ones who do, you either live in hiding or you are made to wear the scars and the stigma like the scarlet letter.

We, as a society, need to arrive at where Abhishek Bachchan’s Rohan was at the climax of Laaga Chunari Mein Daag. Upon Vibha’s tear-jerker of a confession, which included words like daag [stain [burden>, he says, “Daag, bojh, what are you talking about? If you also want to spend the rest of your life with me, I think the rest of our life should begin from this moment.”

Gangubai Kathiawadi is slated to release this Friday on 25 February.

When not reading books or watching films, Sneha Bengani writes about them. She tweets at @benganiwrites.

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