An award-winning film focusing on the problem of child trafficking in India opened in cinemas in the country recently. The movie is based on the true story of a girl sold into the sex trade who fought to see her kidnappers convicted.
Described as “stomach-churning” by one commentator, Lakshmi is directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, who also stars in it as a ruthless pimp.
He said he was inspired to make the film after meeting a girl, whose real name is not revealed, on a visit to a rescue centre on India’s southeastern coast.
“A 14-year-old forced into prostitution, when she got away, she had the courage to take her traffickers to court and set a precedent,” Kukunoor told AFP news agency.
“When I met her she was 17 and living and working in the rescue centre.”
The director said the verdict in the girl’s case was the first of its kind in his home state, Andhra Pradesh and there have since been more than 100 successful cases of girls bringing their abductors to book in the state.
Kukunoor said: “Story after story of inhuman behaviour from women at the rescue centre was recalled. In spite of the abuse they had endured, these women were having a normal conversation with me which was a testimony to their resilience.”
Lakshmi, an independent film that won an audience award at the Palm Springs Film Festival in the United States this year, has been certified for viewing by adults only.
“There is no way to sugarcoat child trafficking and yet I do not show any sexual activity -- it is implied,” explained Kukunoor.
“However I have made it uncomfortable and disturbing in parts because we are numb to statistics and until I met these women I was also desensitised. I needed to serve the story and not sensationalise it.”
Social commentator Shobhaa De wrote in a recent column in the Mumbai Mirror that the film was “a savage story, savagely told.”