Sanjay Leela Bhansali tears up as he recalls watching sex workers as a schoolkid: ‘How can a person’s rate be Rs 20’

Bhansali in an interview with Film Companion said that he was raised in a chawl very close to Kamathipura–the red light area of Mumbai, which is where his new film, Gangubai Kathiawadi is set–and would see sex workers on his way to and from school every day. Gangubai Kathiawadi tells the story of a brothel madam who works to bring reforms to the lives of sex workers. The film stars Alia Bhatt in the titular role.

“You’re sensitive to what you see as a child,” he said, tearing up as he recalled a gesture that he would see sex workers make to prospective clients, indicating that their ‘rate’ was Rs 20. He continued, “How can a person’s rate be Rs 20? These were the things that stayed in my mind. But I could not tell them completely. I was finding them through Chandramukhi… We are priceless for ourselves, we can’t be tagged. We can’t be sold for Rs 5 or Rs 20 or Rs 50. It is inhuman.”

He added, “If you’re sensitive to watching all this as you go to school everyday… But their faces had tremendous stories. They make themselves up. They put so much paint and powder, look at the grief. How do you camouflage that grief. You cannot. The greatest makeup artist cannot take it away. You cannot. These are moments, for me as a filmmaker, they mattered.”

Before Gangubai Kathiawadi, Bhansali showed the life of a courtesan in Devdas, and will next revisit the world in his upcoming Netflix series Heeramandi. Also starring Vijay Raaz, Seema Pahwa, Shantanu Maheshwari and Ajay Devgn in an extended cameo, Gangubai Kathiawadi opened to positive reviews and strong box office.