After a fantastic run in the US, London, Cambridge, Dublin, Manchester and Edinburgh, the Lal Batti Express — a play showcasing the stories of girls from Mumbai’s infamous red light area, Kamathipura, came to the city on Sunday evening, taking Hyderabadis on a very emotional journey.
Interestingly, while the cast and crew were prepared to welcome 1,000 people, around 3,000 attended the event!
Dealing with issues like child molestation and discrimination, the play has former sex workers, daughters of sex workers and girls who were sexually abused as kids, as actors. These girls are members of a Mumbai-based NGO, Kranti, which supports their education and helps them get into renowned universities.
A still from the play Lal Batti Express
Although there were some initial delays due to technical difficulties, the audience was absolutely captivated once the 10 girls, ‘agents of change’ as they called themselves, took the stage. The one-hour-long play used a train themed journey to visit the various stations of the girls’ lives — their troubled childhood, facing discrimination and abuse while growing up, their ongoing struggle to be accepted by society and finding happiness.
Talking about the unique concept, director Pankaj Tiwari says, “We didn’t need a story. These girls have faced a lot and that needed to be told. And so we stuck to a simple theme.” Ask him if it was difficult to direct the girls as they are not professional actors and Pankaj quips, “Not at all! We had a lot of fun in the process. I didn’t want them to act and there was no need for any acting lessons, as whatever they said on stage was what they have been through.”
In the first part of the play, the girls requested volunteers from the audience to join them on the stage and asked them to freeze on cue. They then spoke about how we stereotype people based on their religion, caste and sexual orientation, and established the need to treat everyone equally, irrespective of their backgrounds. In the second segment, the girls spoke about the situations they dealt with during their childhood, including the discrimination they faced from various educational, government, medical, financial and religious institutions.
The final segment was the most overwhelming one, both for the audience as well as the actors. The girls sat in a circle on the stage and each of them spoke about what they consider success to be and how they overcame hurdles to reach it.
One of the performers, Shweta Katti, who is the first Indian girl from a red light area to have studied in a foreign university, narrated her story. “My mother was a sex worker. And I didn’t have the childhood that most of you here had. Most of us don’t get accepted in schools and are forced into begging or prostitution. But for me, that wasn’t an option. I wanted to take my mother and family away from this life. I was awarded the United Nations’ 2014 Youth Courage Award and was part of the list ‘25 under 25 — Young women to watch out for’, alongside Malala Yousufzai.” She added, “For me, success is being able to accept myself without any qualms.” Mehek, 14, who was the youngest of the lot, narrated, “My mother was a sex worker. I have two sisters and most of our childhood was spent in orphanages and NGOs. Success for me is to be able to spread happiness.” Mehek is currently studying in the ninth grade in Wynberg-Allen School.
The other girls shared their stories too and some of them even broke down while narrating their ordeal. But the audience was very encouraging and clapped in support every time a girl got emotional. Some in the audience were even moved to tears. After every segment, one of the performers would ask the audience a question related to the session. And unlike many other events where people are shy to speak up, many shared their opinions openly.
The performers and organisers were very happy too, but a bit nervous as well. Kavita, one of the performers, said after the play, “We weren’t prepared for such a big turnout, and that there were three times more people than expected was a bit unnerving. In fact, we even did a quick meditation session to ward off any anxiety (laughs). But we are grateful for all the love that Hyderabad has shown us.” The show ended with a thunderous applause, which lasted for a couple of minutes. Many even stayed back to interact with the girls.
