A web documentary looks at the plight of human trafficking victims in the holy city
Aesthetic opening visuals might make you believe that the new film by Culture Machine's digital channel, Blush, is a tourism video of Varanasi. It's when you pay attention and listen in to voices in the background that you realise that the subject is about flesh trade in Varanasi that is increasingly dangerous with girls as young as 10 years being trafficked into the profession through abduction and rape.
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(Above and below) Stills from Gudiya
At a time when comedy and music videos rule the online space, Gudiya is the third in a series that's part of Blush Originals featuring real-life heroes. “I read about the NGO, Guria on the internet a few months ago. It was heart warming to see Ajeet and Manju Singh's work at a time when most people are busy looking out for themselves,” shares 26-year-old Joyna Mukherjee, co-director.
“We were shocked to find that infants are stolen from hospitals, tortured and injected with drugs before being pushed into flesh trade. These are realities that urban youth are not exposed to,” she says. Her co-director, 25-year-old Aniket Tari, adds, “I find it disturbing that a woman needs to explain the reason for her not wanting to be forced into something. Women discuss these issues but not too many men talk about it. For me, the idea to make a web documentary about the subject and the work Guriya does, was to get more men to discuss it.”
Ajeet and Manju Singh
The film tells the stories of three rescued women whose lives changed at a young age when they were forced into prostitution. After facing the horrors of life in a brothel, they were rescued in a raid by the Singhs, whose organisation has taken it upon itself to rescue women, who have been forced into this profession with little or in most cases, no help from the police and government. “The police and brothel madams work hand-in-glove. In many cases, politicians are involved. Some girls that we rescued told us that they had managed to escape from the brothel, reached a police station in Varanasi and asked for help. The cops dropped them back to the brothel, and also demanded a sexual favour,” Manju Singh is seen saying in the film.
Pursuing this dangerous line of work, the couple faces death threats regularly but continue their tryst, also raising their young daughter, who is aware of her parents' strategies. “I am not worried about dying, It worries me that one day, I may fail to rescue a girl from this plight,” says Manju Singh.
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