Abstract
This chapter examines the depiction of sex workers in Hindi cinema and the inter-linkages with the stereotypes and construct of the sex worker in popular North Indian imagination. The discussion focuses on 15 films over 4 decades, beginning with the classic Pakeeza (1971) to the recent tour-de-force Begum Jaan (2017). The chapter examines the running binary themes of pure-impure, dirty-clean, chaste-lusty, whore-goddess and prostitute-housewife in the films in the context of splitting all things considered “bad”-“shameful” from the self and projecting them on to the sex worker. The depictions in Hindi cinema are constantly contrasted with the lived realities of sex workers. The positive change with recent films like Chameli (2003) and Dev D (2009) articulating some of the real concerns of sex workers like violence in sex work and the lack of reflection on the issue of de-criminalization of sex work are also covered in this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
Manoranjan is an adaptation of the film Irma la Douce, director Billy Wilder, 1963. All translations are by the author.
- 2.
The dialogue from Pakeezah that every courtesan is a copse finds echo in a discussion on the issue of death penalty and rape on the lawns of a women’s college with young women articulating the view that a rape survivor is akin to being dead and therefore capital punishment ought to be meted to the perpetrator.
- 3.
For an excellent compilation for filmic stereotypes, see footage created by Point of View (2008) entitled Zinda Laash.
- 4.
See my account of the discriminatory selective demolition of sex worker homes at Baina Beach, Goa in 2004: “Carrying an order by the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court,…the state government set about bulldozing hundreds of hutments right in the midst of heavy rains lashing the area. The rationale: The restoration of an ‘unspoilt Goa’ by cleansing it of the ‘sin’ of sex work.” Shukla 2004.
- 5.
Mausam, director Gulzar, 1975.
- 6.
For an excellent treatment of unconscious themes and Hindi cinema – see Akhtar and Choksi (2005: 139–176).
- 7.
Freud wrote: “We are driven to believe that this rejection is principally a product of the distaste which human beings feel for their early incestuous wishes, now overtaken by repression.” Totem and Taboo, 2001: 20.
- 8.
Amar Prem, director Shakti Samanta, 1972.
- 9.
Mandi , director Shyam Benegal, 1983.
- 10.
“This is already visible in Mumbai, where the area in Kamathipura is now being looked upon as prime real estate considering its central location” observe Sahni and Shankar, 2013: 41.
- 11.
See protest account of Amsterdam prostitutes, 2015.
- 12.
Pran Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye, director Sanjay Jha, 2003.
- 13.
Chaal: These are one room dwelling places in multi storey buildings with a common toilet at the end of the corridor which came up with the setting up of factories and are in working class areas of the then Bombay.
- 14.
In Hindi, Marathi and possibly other languages spoken in India, prostitution is referred to as dhanda—translatable as business, not as sex work or prostitution.
- 15.
This refers to the mythological story of Satyavan and Savitri where the wife snatches back her husband from death through her devotion.
- 16.
Shukla (2015: 181–185).
- 17.
Gaurav Jain versus Union of India (1990) Supp 3 SCC 709.
- 18.
Oru Laingikatozhilaliyute Atmakatha (Autobiography of a Sex Worker). 2005. The book went into six editions in the first hundred days. Quote taken from the English translation, Jameela (2007: 37).
- 19.
In the Name of Rescue, Report on the arrest of 75 sex workers in Delhi in January 2008. http://pudr.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/In%20the%20Name%20of%20Rescue.pdf. Retrieved 02.12.2016.
- 20.
Section 20 of The (Immoral Traffic) Prevention Act, 1956.
- 21.
Article 14: Constitution of India.
- 22.
State of Uttar Pradesh versus Kaushailiya AIR 1964 SC 416.
- 23.
See Introduction, Weisberg (1996: 191).
- 24.
Ibid.
- 25.
Jameela , (2007): 67.
- 26.
The dialogue was part of a series of sex worker feminist dialogues initiated by SANGRAM. See Saheli News Letter (2004).
- 27.
Penley et al. (2013: Introduction, 9–20, esp.15).
- 28.
Seshu and Murthy (2013: 16–44, esp.41).
- 29.
On the issue of “rights and wrongs” of anti-trafficking methods and human rights violations of sex workers, see Banamallika Choudhary (2002: 20–24), and 2003 report by Empower Chiang Mai.
- 30.
Shukla (2007: 18–21).
- 31.
The 1986 amendment changed the title from Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act, 1956 (SITA) to the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956 (ITPA).
- 32.
See Eckardt (2015).
- 33.
American Gigolo, director Paul Schrader, 1980.
- 34.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rh_4FeOGyo. Retrieved 06.12.2016. YouTube has since dissociated its account because of multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement. See information at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rh_4FeOGyo
- 35.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPJ43DK8iUU. Retrieved 06.12.2016. YouTube has dissociated its account with this film too. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPJ43DK8iUU
- 36.
Revathi, as told to Murali (2016: 52).
- 37.
For vignettes of transgender and male sex workers lives see Shukla (2013: 212–242).
- 38.
Chameli. Director Anant Balani (died before completion) and Sudhir Mishra, 2004.
- 39.
Dev D, director Anurag Kashyap, 2009. The film Devdas has been remade many times. The first version was in Bengali. Devdas. 1928. Director Naresh Chandra Mitra. The first Hindi version was made in 1935 with K.L. Saigal as Devdas, director P.C. Barua.
- 40.
Begum Jaan, director Srijit Mukherjee, 2017. Original version was in Bengali by the same director, Rajkahini, 2015.
- 41.
Manto’s text was first printed in 1953 in Savera, an Urdu magazine. See Black Margins (2001: 212–220).
- 42.
Devika (2007: viii–ix. Esp xiii).
Works Cited
Films
Amar Prem, director and producer Shakti Samanta, 1972.
Baaghi, director Deepak Shivdasani, producer Nitin Manmohan, Neha Arts, 1990.
Begum Jaan, director Srijit Mukherji, producer Mukesh Bhatt, Vishesh Bhatt, 2017. Originally version was in Bengali. Rajkahini, director Srijit Mukherji, producer Shree Venkatesh Films, 2015.
Chameli. director Anant Balani (died before completion) and Sudhir Mishra, producer Pritish Nandy Communications, 2004.
Dev D, director Anurag Kashyap, producer Ronnie Screwvala, 2009.
Devdas first version was in Bengali. Devdas, director Naresh Chandra Mitra, producer Eastern Films indicate,1928 and then by Pramathesh Barua and produced by New Theatres, 1935. Hindi Devdas director Pramathesh Barua, producer Pramathesh Barua and Kidar Nath Sharma, 1936; director and producer Bimal Roy, 1955; director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, producer Bharat Shah and Red Chillies Entertainment, 2002.
Julie, director Deepak Shivdasani, producer Jay Agarwal, 2004.
Mandi, director Shyam Benegal, producer Bhisham Bijlani, 1983.
Mausam, director Gulzar, producer Mallikarunjana Rao, 1975.
Pakeezah, director and producer Kamal Amrohi, 1971.
Pran Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye, director Sanjay Jha, producer Raj Lalchandani, Mahesh Manjrekar, Asoo Sahlani and Sagoon Wagh, 2003.
Sadak, director Mahesh Bhatt, producer Mukesh Bhatt, 1991.
Umrao Jaan, director and producer Muzaffar Ali, 1981.
Vastaav, director Mahesh Manjrekar, producer Deepak Nikalje, 1999.
Books
Freud, Sigmund. Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics. Trans. James Strachey (1913; London and New York: Routledge Classics, 2001).
Jameela, N. Oru Laingikatozhilaliyute Atmakatha (Kottayam: D.C. Books, 2005). – J. Devika. Trans. The Autobiography of a Sex Worker (New Delhi, Westland, 2007).
Revathi, A. A Life in Trans Activism: as told to Nandini Murali (New Delhi: Zubaan, 2016).
Weisberg, Kelly D. ed. Applications of Feminist Legal Theory to Women’s Lives: Sex, Violence, Work and Reproduction (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996).
Articles, Book Chapters, Reports
Akhtar, S. and Komal Choksi. “Bollywood and the Unconscious” in Akhtar, S. (ed). Freud along the Ganges: Psychoanalytical Reflections on the People and Culture of India (Other Press. New York, 2005): 139–176.
Amsterdam Prostitutes Protest Closure of their windows. 2015. http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/04/10/amsterdam-prostitutes-windows/.
“Baina Beach Demolition: what about the sex-worker’s right to shelter?” InfoChange (August 2004). http://infochangeindia.org/livelihoods/131-livelihoods/analysis/314-baina-beach-demolitions-what-about-the-sex-workers-right-to-shelter
Choudhary, Banamallika. “Rights or the Wrongs?: a Case Study of G.B. Road rescue-rehabilitation operation”, Namaskar, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Kolkata: Durbar Prakashini, 2002): 20–23.
Devika J. “Translator’s Foreword” in Nalini Jameela’s, The Autobiography of a Sex Worker (New Delhi: Westland Books, 2007): vii–xv.
Eckardt, Stephanie. “Watch Indian Gigolo, a new short film”, The Cut (Sept 10, 2015): https://www.thecut.com/2015/09/watch-indian-gigolo-a-new-short-film.html
Empower: “A report by Empower Chiang Mai on the human rights violations women are subjected to when ‘rescued’ by anti-trafficking groups who employ methods using deception, force and coercion” (June 2003). https://www.nswp.org/sites/nswp.org/files/Empower%20report%20on%20forced%20rescue.pdf
Manto, Sadaat Hasan. “Toba Tek Singh” in M. Asaduddin Trans. and M. Asaduddin and M.U. Memon Ed. Black Margins: Sa’adat Hasan Manto Stories (New Delhi, Katha, 2001): 212–220.
Penley, Constance, Celine Perreňas Shimizu, Mireille Miller-Young, Tristan Taormino. “Introduction: The Politics of Producing Pleasure” in Tristan Taormino, Celine Perreňas Shimizu and Mireille Miller-Young Ed. The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure (New York: The Feminist Press, 2013): 9–20.
Saheli and People’s Union for Democratic Rights. “In the name of rescue: report on the arrest of 75 sex workers in Delhi in January 2008” (2009). http://pudr.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/In%20the%20Name%20of%20Rescue.pdf
Saheli Women’s Resource Centre. “The Women’s Movement And Our Troubled Relationship with Prostitution: A Dialogue on Saheli Day” (Newsletter, Sept–Dec 2004). https://sites.google.com/site/saheliorgsite/home/the-women-s-movement-and-our-troubled-relationship-with-prostitution-a-dialogue-on-saheli-day
Sahni, Rohini and Kalyan V. Shankar. “From Centre to Periphery and Back, Tracing the Journey of Spaces in Prostitution”, in The Business of Sex (New Delhi: Zubaan, 2013): 99–124.
Seshu, Meena Saraswathi and Laxmi Murthy. “The Feminist and the Sex Worker” in The Business of Sex (New Delhi: Zubaan, 2013): 16–44.
“Sex Workers: Repositories of the “bad”?” International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2 (June 2015): 181–185.
Shukla, Rakesh. “A Walk through the Labyrinth of Sex Work Law”, in Laxmi Murthy and Meena Saraswathi Seshu Ed. The Business of Sex (New Delhi: Zubaan, 2013): 212–242.
“Women with Multiple Partners in a Commercial Construct”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 42, No. 1 (January 6–12, 2007): 18–21.
E Sources
Point of View. “Impurities: Zinda Laash, Representation of sex workers in Bollywood” (2008). https://pad.ma/JO/player/GP
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Shukla, R. (2019). Sex Workers in Hindi Cinema: Imagos and Realities. In: Sengupta, S., Roy, S., Purkayastha, S. (eds) 'Bad' Women of Bombay Films. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26788-9_10
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