Bollywood movies on sex-workers

Lakshmi: Written and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, the movieshows the tragedy of a 13-year-old girl who has been kidnapped and sold and enters the prostitution business. For the first time in her life, she faces the inhumanity of the worldaround her and is brutally beaten for protesting against the business. Kukunoor gothis inspiration for this film after he met human trafficking victims during hisvisits to NGOs. The movie is set to release on 21st March 2014.

Laaaga Chunari Me Daag: The movie showcases the journey of a girl, who moves to Mumbai to find work as she does not want her younger sister to suffer due to poverty and wants her to complete her education. After she encounters many obstacles in the city that she is forced by her circumstances to become "Natasha", an exclusive call girl. The story very strongly portrays what difficulties a woman has to go through while searching for work and the cruelty of the city that turns her into a prostitute.

Chameli: Kareena Kapoor in the lead role opposite Rahul Bose played the prostitute in the movie. Chameli, who was sold to a brothel by her uncle in her childhood, is shown to be a tough woman and has a strong philosophy of life with which she is able to positively influence Rahul Bose in the movie. Kareena was awarded a Special Award for Best Performance by Filmfare for the role.

Umrao Jaan: This is one of the critically-acclaimed movies and showed the exploitation of the girl child. Rekha, who played the lead role, is kidnapped and then sold to a brothel by her neighbour. Umrao Jaan is remembered for its memorable melodies like "Dil cheez kya hai", "Justuju Jiski Thi", "In ankhon ki masti", and "Yeh kya jagah hai doston". Also, Miss World Aishwarya Rai attempted a remake of the movie, but failed to match up to her predecessor.