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Though prostitution is not a very widely talked subject, it is there in Indian society.In typical Hindi movies, it is showed that the woman in question becomes a victim of situation and gets into prostitution. Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Yash Raj Films latest movie is no different.  In this movie, a small town girl, Badki Sahay, takes up prostitution to save her family. Rani Mukherjee played the character of Badki.  In movies like Chandni bar, Chingaari, Market, Julie, film makers deglamorized prostitution. Here is a list of top ten Indian movies that deal with prostitutes and prostitution in India.

 

Chandni bar:
Director:        Madhur Bhandarkar

Producer:      Lata Mohan

Cast:            Tabu, Atul Kulkarni, Rajpal Yadav, Ananya Khare, Vishal Thakkar,

Year:            2001

Chandni bar is about this Muslim village girl, Mumtaz, whose family is killed in a communal riot. She then comes to Mumbai with her uncle, who convinces her to become a bar dancer. Eventually, she meets a gangster and marries him and for some time, gets to lead the life of a typical Indian house wife. Then her world turns upside down when her husband is killed. She is again forced to join the bar.

 

Umrao Jaan:
Director:        Muzaffar Ali

Producer:       Muzaffar Ali

Cast:             Rekha, Farooq Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah, Umme Farwa

Shaukat Kaifi, Dina Pathak, Prema Narayan, Gajanan Jagirdar

Raj Babbar, Bharat Bhushan, Satish Shah

Year:            1981

To many Hindi movie goers, Umrao Jaan is synonymous with Rekha. Umrao Jaan is one of the most important movies in Rekha’s career. The movie was remade in 2006 and Aishwarya Bachchan played the Rekha’s character. It is the 1981 Umrao Jaan which is considered to be a classic. The movie is based on the novel, “Umrao Jan Ada” by Mirza Hadi Ruswa. Set in the colonial period, Umrao Jaan tells the story of Amiran, who was kidnapped by his neighbour and sold to a brothel. Under the care of Madam Khanum Jaan, Amiran became a courtesan. In the end of the movie, she returned to her village but her family did not accept her. She was left all alone. For her role, in this movie, Rekha got critical acclaim.

 

Dil Aashna Hai:
Director:        Hema Malini

Producer:      Hema Malini

Cast:            Jeetendra, Dimple Kapadia, Amrita Singh, Sonu Walia, Kabir Bedi,

Shahrukh Khan, Divya Bharti, Farida Jalal, Mithun Chakraborty,

Year:            1992

This is one of the earlier movies in Shah Rukh Khan’s career and it was Hema Malini’s debut movie as a director. Though not successful, I think many movie goers still remember this movie for Divya Bharati. This talented actress gave a good performance in this movie. Divya Bharati plays the character of a bar dancer, Laila. Laila works in a five-star hotel. She was brought up in a brothel. The son of the hotel owner, Karan (Shah Rukh Khan), falls in love with her. Initially, she tried to avoid him but finally gave in to Karan. When Karan’s father came to know about their relationship he tried to stop him. Laila then came to know from her dying mother that she was not her child. She then goes out in search of her real mother and Karan helps her. The rest of the movie reveals how Laila gets to know who her real mother is.

 

Kalyug:

Director:                  Mohit Suri     

Producer:                Mukesh Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt

Cast:                      Kunal Khemu, Deepal Shaw, Amrita Singh, Ashutosh Rana

Emran Hashmi

Year:                      2005            

Kalyug does not directly deal with prostitution but it deals with porno industry in India. Kunal Khemu plays the male lead. In this movie, his character’s name is also Kunal. It shows how the lives of a newly married couple, Kunal and Renuka, turn tipsy turvy after they come to know that while honeymooning, they were secretly videotaped. After knowing about this incident, Renuka commits suicide. To prove his innocence, Kunal goes out to look for those people involved in this blue film racket. He then goes to Zurich, in Germany. There, he meets Alibhai (Emraan Hashmi) who runs a sex shop. With the help of Alibhai and strip club dancer and porn star, Annie (Deepal Shaw), Kunal finally uncovers the leader of the group.

 

Pakeezah:
Director/Writer:        Kamal Amrohi 

Producer:                Kamal Amrohi

Cast:                      Meena Kumari, Raj Kumar, Ashok Kumar

Year:                      1972  

Pakeezah is Urdu word, which means, pure of heart. Like Mughal-E-Azam, this movie also took a lot of time to make. Mughal-E-Azam, the Indian Cinema masterpiece took more than ten years and Kamal Amrohi took fourteen years to make Pakeezah. Starring Meena Kumari, Ashok Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Pakeezah tells the story of this courtesan, Sahibjaan, who falls in love with a rich young man named Salim; but Salim’s father disapproves their relationship. Finally, Sahibjaan performs in the wedding ceremony where she finds her father, uncle of Salim and the two lovers reunite.   

 

Chameli:
Director:                  Sudhir Mishra 

Producer:                Pritish Nandy Communication

Cast:                      Kareena Kapoor, Rahul Bose

Year:                    2003

Chameli is one night story movie. The story takes place in one rainy night and ends within one night. Aman Kapoor (Rahul Bose) is a guy who has everything according to the Indian standard. Unfortunately, his wife, Neha, died in a car accident. At that time she was pregnant. After her death, Aman became depressed and lonely. Suddenly his life takes a turn on a rainy night. His car breaks down near the Mumbai red light area. He then meets a young prostitute named Chameli. Aman then ends up meeting with eunuchs, corrupted police officers, and many other characters. The movie shows how these two strangers change each others lives. 

 

Julie:

Director:                  Deepak S. Shivdasani

Producer:                N R Pachisia

Cast:                      Sanjay Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Priyanshu Chatterjee, 

Achint Kaur, Sudhir Joshi, Kamini Khanna, Ahmed Khan

Year:                      2004

This movie resembles a bit with the story of Pretty Woman starring Julia Roberts; the love relationship between a prostitute and a millionaire. Julie is a high class prostitute who meets this multi-millionaire guy, Mihir Shandilya. The two falls in love and Mihir introduces Julie to his family. What they do not know is that Julie is a prostitute.  A television channel invites Julie to tell her story and there she reveals her true identity. Mihir also sees the show. In spite of knowing that Julie is a prostitute, Mihir decides to accept Julie as her life partner.

 

Chingaari:
Director:                  Kalpana Lazmi

Producer:                Kalpana Lazmi

Cast:                      Mithun Chakraborty, Sushmita Sen, Anuj Sawhney

Year:                      2006

Chingaari is a love triangle between a Hindu priest, a postman and a prostitute. Chandan is a newly recruited postman who has been posted to Rangpur village. Basanti is a prostitute who lives in a brothel with her daughter Titali. Basanti wants to leave the profession and have a normal environment for her daughter. Basanti and Chandan fall in love. Bhuvan Panda is a local priest and a very powerful person. He is a regular customer of Basanti. When he comes to know about Basanti and Chandan, he kills Chandan. In the climax, Basanti kills Bhuvan Panda and avenges the death of her love.

 

Mausam:
Director:                  Gulzar

Producer:                P. Mallikharjuna Rao

Cast:                      Sharmila Tagore, Sanjeev Kumar, Dina Pathak, Om Shivpuri

Year:                      1975

This movie garnered Film Fare Award in 1977 in three categories. One of Sharmila Tagore’s memorable performances, Mausam, tells the story of a physician who returns to find out about the women whom he had an affair with long time ago. He learns that her lady love was dead and she conceived his daughter who was forced to prostitution.

 

Mandi:
Director:        Shyam Benegal                  

Cast:            Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Smita Patil

Amrish Puri    

Year:            1983

I do not know anything about art film but Shyam Benegal is one of the pioneers in art film making in India. Mandi tells the story of a brothel situated in a small town of Maharashtra. Rukmini Bai (Shabana Azmi) is the head of the brothel. The new landlord of her building forces her to remove her brothel to another place. Initially, she disagreed but forced by local city councilor.  Rukmini removes her brothel near the shrine of a Muslim saint. Fortunately, her income increases. Meanwhile, the landlord’s future son-in-law, Sushil denies to marry his daughter. Sushil has fallen for a prostitute named Zeenat, who lives in Rukmini Bai’s brothel.