Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; September 11, 2018)

Richa Chadha, who plays a sex worker in Tabrez Noorani’s Love Sonia, makes scathing statements about the state of girls who fall victim to child trafficking and prostitution in our country. The actress also reveals why she had to seek psychiatric help after working on the film, as it dealt with an issue that was deeply disturbing. Excerpts...

Love Sonia took 10 years in the making. That’s a long time for a film to take shape...
It took ten years to put the story and script together but the film wasn’t in the making for those many years. The whole process of research, working with the NGOs and scripting took 10 years. Also, Tabrez wasn’t actively working only on this film. In the meanwhile, he was a producer on various other projects as well.

The film addresses human trafficking and prostitution. A subject like this, if not handled sensitively, can go awfully wrong. Did you have any such apprehensions and, if yes, did you discuss them with Tabrez before giving your nod to the film?
I refused to do the film initially, but later on, when I met Tabrez, I realised that he is genuine and that he won’t make a cheap, titillating film. Honestly, I was offered a few other films on prostitution and human trafficking before, by independent and arty filmmakers, but none of the scripts were empathetic towards women. How can you judge the girls who get kidnapped at the age of six and are then forced into prostitution? You need to have some empathy. That’s why I was apprehensive to give a go ahead to a film being made on this issue. However, with Tabrez, it was different. He told me, ‘Don’t do it if you aren’t sure about it’. I wondered how he was okay about letting me go. He was genuine and that’s when I realised ki ye film karni chahiye. Also, by then, the other actors had come on board.

The film boasts of a stellar ensemble cast. Did that make your choice easier?
Yes, because a film like this needs the right cast. It can go horribly wrong if that’s not the case. If it’s not genuine, and the people involved in the project are not feeling enough for the cause, it could be a flop show. I had to seek psychiatric help after completing the film, because it deeply affected me. The extent of what a human being can do to another person left me shocked and appalled. During the research, I met some girls and their stories were absolutely shocking. There were seven kids in one house, so the parents sold the oldest girl for Rs 40,000. The parents are clueless and they believe that the girls are being taken for some job in the city. Some were abducted by relatives. One of the girls’ story was very disturbing. She was playing in the temple and the priest raped her. When she got pregnant, the entire village abandoned her, including her own parents, as they refused to believe that a priest can do such a thing. She was then repeatedly raped for about six-seven months in an outhouse in Mumbai, before being dragged into prostitution. So, it was an extremely disturbing experience for me to know what they went through. That’s why I had to seek help later on.

As people, we are all aware of the issue of child trafficking, but witnessing the enormity of it from close quarters must have been shocking...
I am a citizen who is aware of what is happening around me, but I didn’t know the extent of the (flesh) trade. I don’t think that in our lifetime, we will be able to get rid of it. The money that’s involved is massive. If I am not wrong, the annual turnover of Bollywood must be less than the annual turnover of child trafficking in India. This is a scary reality. In the film, we had to soften the blow, and Mrunal Thakur (who plays the protagonist, Sonia) is a 26-year-old-girl. But in reality, this happens to girls who are 10 or 11. Girls that age don’t have any life skills. Sometimes, they don’t even know how to buy a bus ticket and lack proper communication skills. A six-year-old Assamese girl was brought to Mumbai. She couldn’t speak the local language (Marathi), so how can she escape from Grant Road? She still tried and after spending two days on the road, she came back to the brothel, because she at least got food there. She doesn’t know any better. The kind of things that happen in this profession are shocking and disgusting.

Isn’t it ironic that these very women, who are victimized, are ostracized by the society?
The worst insult for a woman is when someone calls her a prostitute, but during my research, I didn’t find a single woman who was into it by choice! They were either sold by their families or abducted.

Tell us a bit about your character in the film. Is it a cameo?
It’s not a cameo. I play a girl called Madhuri, who is Sonia’s senior. She, too, went through a similar journey. She tries to protect herself by becoming a part of the system. It’s a significant role and I think I have done justice to it. It will be remembered as one of my good performances. It’s a film where the story flows organically and it’s a true ensemble film. A movie like this cannot happen without exposing the reality of what goes on. It’s the story about the triumph of human spirit. Our perseverance. It’s optimistic, if not uplifting.

What was the biggest eye-opener for you while working on Love Sonia?
While working on the film, I was shocked to learn about men’s obsession with virgins. This is the reason why child trafficking (of boys and girls) is on the rise. People have no qualms about it. There are a lot of people out there giving lectures on women empowerment, but you never know what they are doing on the side. Mera dimaag kharab ho gaya yeh sunke. The child-trafficking nexus is so strong.

Did this film make you rethink your opinion on women empowerment?
Empowerment for me is survival despite the odds, because sometimes you don’t have the power to make your choices. If I am an illiterate girl, who is abducted at the age of four and sold off, what choices do I have? Also, more than apathy, I am more concerned about people’s fear. Sometimes, we forget humanity and prefer to stay away from such situations. But, we need to be more compassionate towards others and there has to be more awareness.