Unapologetic and in charge: Sex workers get real on reel

What is common to Vidya Balan (Begum Jaan), Swara Bhaskar (Anarkali Arrahwali), Huma Qureshi (Badlapur), Shruti Haasan (D Day), Konkona Sen Sharma (Traffic Signal), Sushmita Sen (Chingaari), Tabu (Chandni Bar), Kareena Kapoor (Chameli / Talaash), Rani Mukerji (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag / Saawariya), Neha Dhupia (Julie / De Dhana Dhan) and Kalki Koechlin (DevD)? They've all portrayed sex workers on screen, depicting them as characters further and further away from the narratives that foist back stories of victimhood or romanticise/glamourise them into the exotic, a la Pakeezah.

Shohini Ghosh's 2003 documentary Tales of the Night Fairies marked this change in approach, says documentary filmmaker Anjali Monteiro. "Whether Sonagachi, West Bengal or in Sangli, Maharashtra, the organisation of sex workers into assertive collectives changed the narrative from victimhood to livelihood," says Monteiro, also a professor at the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. "The increasing realisation of the injustice and unfairness in the state's stance on bar dancers too has contributed to change perceptions and sensibilities about sex work."

The 54-year-old is quick to add that "the moral gaze and rescuing variety middle-class vigilantism which seeks to infantilise women in sex work, denying them agency over their own bodies, is still not a thing of the past. In fact, a fierce contest is playing out between these two discourses — one emanating from sex workers and the other 'well-meaning' one of victims who need saving".

A kick in family jewels

While filmmakers, actors and audiences may seem ready for a change, institutions like the Censor Board, feels Monteiro, are "stuck with a traditional notion of the 'Bharatiya nari' expecting audiences to accept their age-old beliefs" Such patriarchal beliefs are getting a kick in the family jewels with films like the soon-to-release Begum Jaan directed by Srijit Mukherji. The film looks at the lives of 11 sex workers in a brothel that sits on the new border being drawn between India and Pakistan during Partition. "The moment I read Srijit's script with Kausar Munir's dialogues, I knew I had to do this. A badass assertive woman is itself so special, and here I get to play an unapologetic badass brothel keeper. This really takes on patriarchy on a completely different level," says the National award winning actor Vidya Balan.

Director Mukherji goes a step further. "Begum Jaan goes beyond the mere unapologetic. She is actively manipulating and subverting the exploitative patriarchy around herself to create her own paradigm... of a country within a country where she and her women rule."

Both Balan and Mukherji should be flattered that among those eagerly awaiting the film is Shabana Azmi — a five times national awardee, whose portrayal of the brothel keeper Rukmini Bai in Shyam Benegal's Mandi (1983), is pioneering, and the movie considered a benchmark in approaching any film on the subject. "I love Vidya as an actor and am looking forward to Begum Jaan," Azmi told dna.

Azmi remembers how Benegal's brief was that her character was not a victim at all. "Rukmini Bai was on top of her game. True, she was manipulative, theatrical, shrewd and over-the-top. But she also cared for her girls and loved Zeenat (Smita Patil)." She recounts how she went to three different kinds of brothels to prepare for her role more than three decades ago. "I went to Peela House in Bombay with Aziz Nazan and Farouque Shaikh, to Delhi's GT road with Amrita Singh's mother Rukhsana Sultan and to Hari Mandi in Hyderabad with Shyam Benegal." Azmi even put on 12 kilos for the part. "I had to work a lot on my gait, mannerisms, body language, and learn the Deccani dialect," she says, admitting that the latter was easy considering her mother, Shaukat, hails from Hyderabad. In fact, Naseeruddin Shah, who played the memorable Tungrus, remembers Shabana being the de facto go-to person for dialogue. Azmi herself remembers being like an assistant to Benegal on the film. "I bought clothes from Charminar, Hyderabad for the characters, even taking a shirt off a cyclist because I felt it was perfect for Om Puri's character."

Incidentally, the same year saw her play a sex worker in Lekh Tandon's Doosri Dulhan too. The film centers on a childless couple (Victor Banerjee and Sharmila Tagore) and a sex worker, who is hired as a surrogate. Released in Bengali as Uttarayan 23 years later, the movie was also remade as Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2001) with Preity Zinta reprising Azmi's role. "For this role, I got BR Ishara to invite eight streetwalkers in Juhu to meet me in his office and spent an entire day with them," says Azmi. Brushing aside suggestions on how both these performances are considered a benchmark, she says, "The fact that people think so has less to do with my ability and more to do with the way these characters were written — full-blooded, not as whimpering victims."

A 'naar' like none

Another in-your-face character who spits at even a hint of pity is the powerful reprising of the titular role by Swara Bhaskar in and as Anarkali Arrahwali. "From the first time you see her in the film, her unapologetic nature defines and sets her apart. She accepts who she is and has no regrets about the work she does. Yet that doesn't give licence to men to violate her," says Bhaskar.

Narrating how she picked up Anarkali's mannerisms, language, style of smoking beedis and chewing paan from female singers who sing songs with double-meaning for a living, she remembers: "I shopped for Anaarkali's clothes and even undergarments from roadside stalls in in Aarah (Bihar) and sent these fabrics to the stylist to stitch the costume." Insisting how her own gender politics have led her to be unapologetic about her body, she remarked, "With Anaarkali Arrahwali, we have brought nuance to a commercial film. I hope Bollywood takes the cue to move away from the way it portrays female performers and sex workers."

Tales of the 'tawaif'

Sociologist Meghana Kashyap has her doubts. "After patron royal families fell on bad times, thanks to British annexations, though it was performing pleasure women who kept the music tradition going, both the British with their Victorian morals and those who came to power in newly independent India never gave them due credit," she explains. "Filmmakers who wanted to highlight this, resorted to excessive glamourisation and romanticisation."
She further points out, "As first stirrings of the 'otherisation' of Muslims who didn't choose Pakistan began, these courtesans almost always became golden-hearted Muslims, unrequitedly in love with the hero, often sacrificing their own lives to save the hero and/or to bring the hero-heroine together."

Filmmakers like Mehboob Khan, KA Abbas, Kamal Amrohi, Abrar Alvi and Abdul Rashid Kardar are among the filmmakers who set this trend. "From fictionalised historicals like Najma (1943), Humayun (1945), Shahjehan (1946), Anarkali (1953) Taj Mahal (1963), Jahan Ara (1964), Mughal-e-Azam (1960) to the lavish takes on Lucknow's nawabi culture in Mirza Ghalib (1954), Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960), Mere Mehboob (1963), Dil Hi To Hai (1963) and Pakeezah (1972) to its fall in Bahu Begum (1967), Mehboob Ki Mehndi (1971) and Laila Majnu (1976), you can actually trail a whole journey," observes Kashyap.

Admitting these films have given us many memorable songs, she laments their descent into stereotypical depictions of kothas, courtesans and impoverished nawabs. "Films like Umrao Jaan (1981) bucked that trend to create space for this genre first in parallel cinema from where it began to spilt into the mainstream. Dastak (1970), Garm Hava (1973), Junoon (1978), Bazaar (1982), Nikaah (1982), Anjuman (1986), Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro (1989), Mammo (1994), Naseem (1995), Sardari Begum (1996), Fiza (2000) and Zubeidaa (2001) come to mind. Though with mainstreaming, references to kothewalis fell into the worst stereotypes."

The pioneer

Incidentally, the first portrayal of a sex worker in Indian cinema did not rob her of her dignity at all. Filmmaking legend V Shantaram's Aadmi (1939) had Shanta Hublikar play a sex worker named Maina. Societal disapproval of her liaison with her lover leads her to move away and choose her own path. "This had to do with his own past," says the late filmmaker's daughter Madhura Jasraj. "He came from a family of well-to-do landed gentry. Yet his father Rajaram rescued a devdasi Kamal who he met at a performance after she threw him a note asking to be saved, mid-performance. His decision to marry her despite family opposition led to him being thrown out. Despite the hard times they fell on, when it was unclear if the next meal would come, the couple persevered and this left a deep mark on their son Shantaram."

Jasraj says this was what drove him to present a completely assertive Maina in Aadmi who accepts her profession without any discomfiture. "When recent filmmakers talk of realistic, unapologetic portrayals in their work, I want to tell them that Pappa (Shantaram) did it 78 years ago!"

Hopefully now that the trend has come full circle, it will stay.

Celebrated portrayals

Waheeda Rehman (Pyaasa)
As Gulabo. she garnered more appreciation than lead actress Mala Sinha did

Sharmila Tagore (Amar Prem / Mausam)
While this Shakti Samanta film Amar Prem is remembered for its music, it is Gulzar's Mausam, which is considered to be Tagore's best role

Zeenat Aman (Manoranjan)
In this Irma La Douce remake, Zeenat Aman played Nisha, a high-class call girl who falls in love with a constable played by Sanjeev Kumar who eventually marries her

Meenakshi Seshadari (Allahrakha)
Meenakshi is the sex worker who dies to unite Jackie Shroff and Dimple's characters

Rekha (Aastha)
Rekha plays Mansi, a middle class housewife who gets into prostitution to make ends meet

Namrata Shirodkar (Vaastav)
Sonia, played by Namrata, is brought up in a brothel and marries Raghunath, a gangster played by Sanjay Dutt

Tabu (Chandni Bar)
Tabu played Mumtaz Ali Ansari, a bar dancer forced into prostitution after widowhood. The role fetched Tabu the National Award

Kareena Kapoor (Chameli / Talaash)
While her sex worker act in Chameli got critical acclaim, many feel that her portrayal of Rosy in Reema Kagti's Talaash has been her best performance ever

Bipasha Basu (No Entry)
Bipasha Basu played hooker Bobby who needs money for cancer treatment

Konkona Sen Sharma (Traffic Signal)
Konkona Sen Sharma plays the role of street dweller Noorie, who sells herself for a living

Rani Mukerji (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag / Saawariya)
In Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, she was a small town girl who turns prostitute to help her family. In Saawariya, her sex worker character helps Ranbir Kapoor win his beloved

Neha Dhupia (Julie / De Dhana Dhan)
Though she played hooker in both De Dhana Dhan and Julie, the latter has left its mark for its bold scenes

Kalki Koechlin (DevD)
The modern day Chandramukhi is widely spoken about

Huma Qureshi (Badlapur)
Huma's Jhimli in the movie was the love interest of Nawazuddin Siddiqui's character