A short film that chronicles Calcutta’s rapid transformation into a megalopolis after colonisation, through the unique lens of sex work
The process through which ordinary helpless women and children are drawn into this horrendous organized crime world-over, more prominently in poor countries...
What is International Sex Workers' Day and what does it signify?
While voluntary sex work is legal, running a brothel is illegal in India, as per existing laws covering sex work and human trafficking.
The apex court was hearing a plea that has raised the problems faced by sex workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The plea has highlighted the destitution...
NHRC in 2020 issued an advisory to recognise sex workers as 'registered, informal workers', but later modified the terminology, saying they should be provided...
Residents in Kamathipura feel stigmatised with sex workers standing on the road and soliciting clients.
The American photojournalist’s iconic shots of sex workers in Kamathipura are testimony not just to her photographic prowess but also to her humanity and...
For nearly four decades, Priti Patkar has been working with trafficked women in the sex trade and their children in Mumbai’s red-light area, Kamathipura.
Saadat Hasan Manto’s short story ‘Das Rupay’ is the tale of a 15-year-old pushed into the flesh trade by her mother. In his early days in Mumbai, Manto...
Lachmi is in her late seventies and now owns a room in the old building in gully no 14 where gangubai used to own rooms and where her statue is. Lachmi is from...
I met Zeenath in 2012 for a story on adoptions by eunuch sex workers. For years, I have seen Kamathipura’s red light area fade away as builders move into...
Up the flight of stairs in a dingy building in Gully No. 14 in Kamathipura, if you turn to your right, a passageway appears. Under the reddish glow, the bust...
The parallel world of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, with its aesthetically-lit windows and luxurious sentimentality that glows in the yellow fairy lights, doesn’t...
This poem appeared in Namdeo Dhasal’s 1981 Marathi collection, 'Tuhi Iyatta Kanchi' (What Grade Are You In), later translated to English by Dilip Chitre, and...
Never known for originality or verisimilitude, Bollywood scriptwriters trawl the absolute depths when creating on-screen prostitutes, in search of lucre
Very few Indian directors have handled the subject of sex workers sensitively. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai is an exception.
Multiple factors including the law have made it impossible to collectivise the women in the locality
Plans to revive Mumbai’s infamous locality of Kamathipura have remained, at best, a dream for its residents
An ambitious redevelopment plan is being readied for Kamathipura, whose lanes had seen a thriving sex trade. Forced out of the area, the sex workers will lose...
'There’s more hardship in sex work. The tawaif wants just a little bit of izzat, which the sex worker is denied to even dream about.'
A 2019 raid rescuing 141 girls held behind trap doors and steel cages raised a poignant question—how long will art continue imitating life?
Four petitions filed by various people against the Hindi film 'Gangubai Kathiawadi' have been dismissed by the Bombay High Court, paving way for the release of...
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film 'Gangubai Kathiawadi' is in the eye of a storm, as the real-life daughter and grandson of the brothel owner are fighting to...
