Sex workers' daughters to perform new play this Sunday

Ten girls, all daughters of women who were commercial sex workers, either because they had no other options or were trafficked, will be performing a play at Sophia Bhabha Auditorium, this Sunday evening. The play titled Lal Batti Express 2, will have its first Mumbai screening. All the girls are associated with a Mumbai based NGO Kranti, which has been working to upgrade, the lives of these children.

The play which had its first part, Lal Batti Express, has toured several countries, including, the USA. However, both the plays have different stories to give to the audience. This will be the first time, that the play Lal Batti Express 2, will have a show in Mumbai. The play talks about the stories of the girls, their fight, and their success, where they managed to fight great odds. Some of the girls also won awards from the UNESCO.

Robin Chaurasia, one of the founders of Kranti, said, "This new version of the play was created in May, and from late June to late August, we toured 10 cities in the UK. It was even featured by a well known news channel there."

She further added, "As I mentioned, the show has changed drastically. Part of this is because they (the girls) wanted to add new stories and take out some old ones, and partially because many girls have changed since the US version (LBE 1) of the play. But honestly, more than anything else, if you see this play, you'll see how far they've come as individuals. There is much less anger and judgement in the play, and they've moved from a place of fighting society to being comfortable with who they are, and embracing the audience members as they are. It's more a journey of healing now rather than a fight for rights. You'll have to come see it to really understand, though."

The girls in the play have huge dreams and many are even achieving them. For example, one of the girls from the NGO wanted to be a drummer and she even went to the US for it. The other even went on to study abroad, and all of this is done via crowdfunding. The show on Sunday starts at 5 pm. The stories in the play mostly come from Kamathipura, Mumbai's biggest red light area.

LAL BATTI EXPRESS

• The play titled Lal Batti Express 2, will have its first Mumbai screening
   
• All the girls are associated with a Mumbai based NGO Kranti, which has been working to upgrade, the lives of these children 
   
• The play talks about the stories of the girls, their fight, and their success, where they managed to fight great odds