The journey of Love Sonia

Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated actor Mrunal Thakur was in Kolkata for a special screening of her film Love Sonia which is centred around global sex-trafficking.

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Also present with her at the occasion were survivors of prostitution from Kolkata who have been rescued and rehabilitated with the help of an NGO, ApneAap Women Worldwide. The idea was to spread awareness among people about the issue of sex-trafficking which is the third largest trade in the world after arms and drugs. “In some countries, it amounts for more than drugs because while drugs are consumed after it changes hands, a girl is used multiple times in the trade,” said Ruchira Gupta, founder of ApneAap while interacting with media persons.

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Thakur, who plays the protagonist Sonia, as part of her preparations for the role had spent time with survivors of sex workers at Sonagachi, the biggest red light area in India. “It was an emotive and challenging role to play. I had always been thinking of doing something inspiring but didn’t know what I should be doing to be inspirational. After I was narrated the script, I was convinced that this would be inspirational for others,” she said and added, “It is a pity that women who are abducted by men and are used by men but at the end of the day it is she who is tagged as a whore.

Thakur said that amidst their exploitation, the human side of the sex workers was visible to her which changed her as a person. “I realized prostitution is an absence of choice. I was able to play my role so well because of what I learned from the women,” she said.

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The film has been directed by Tabrez Noorani of Slumdog Millionnaire fame and produced by Academy Award nominee David Wamack for Life of Pi. The film had been inspired by Gupta’s thought-provoking documentaries on sex-trafficking in Nepal and India – ‘The selling of innocents’ and ‘Land of the missing children’.

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