TALES OF THE NIGHT FAIRIES
English and Bengali, with subtitles, 74 mins, 2002
Directed by Shohini Ghosh
Produced with help from The Centre for Feminist Legal Research and Mama Cash

A film about the confidence and vitality of Sonagachi’s sex workers, a charmed circle where women have control over their bodies, where they choose their clients, and insist on the use of condoms

Screened as part of Vikalp: Films for Freedom, organised by OPEN SPACEin Pune, July 31 - August 29, 2004

Tales of the Night Fairies is a joyous and celebratory look at the sex workers of Sonagachi in Kolkata. Uma, Sadhana, Mala, Shikha, Deepti and their male colleague Nitai mesmerise the director and the viewers with their exuberance, their clarity about themselves and their work and their sense of power over their own lives and bodies.

The film cuts between the stories the sex workers tell about themselves and the first Sex Workers Millennium Carnival that was held in Kolkata in 2001. Itself a unique event, the carnival showcases not simply talent and community, but also the fact that these are workers like any other, with partners and families and children who gather for days of fun and frolic and entertainment.

The Sonagachi sex workers’ organisation which protects health and the right to work, the Durbar Mahila Samanvaya Committee, has been an inspiration to many all over the country. It was started by Dr Sharajit Jana as a health initiative based on the use of condoms by sex workers and their clients. Because of the strong and determined people involved, DMSC, now with 60,000 sex workers under its wing, has grown into a vehicle of empowerment and has become a platform for the rights of sex workers, a place from which they can negotiate with the local police about raids, fines, instances of brutality and terms of protection. The workers of DMSC are sure that their success lies in the fact that they are sex workers working for themselves and for other sex workers.

The voices foregrounded in the film state in no uncertain terms that many are in the profession, the “line”, by choice and, perhaps for the first time, we hear about desire and personal pleasure from these women and from Nitai. It is this certainty, this confidence and vitality, that blasts off the screen and envelopes the viewer, bringing us into the charmed circle where women have control over the bodies, where they choose their clients, where they can insist on the use of condoms, where they can separate themselves from the exploitation that has destroyed previous generations of sex workers and their families.

DMSC is as much about self-definition and self-respect as it is about safer practices and better protection. The confidence that young Shikha exudes as she talks about her life, her choices and her trip to Jamaica for a conference, is infectious. As is the dignity and conviction with which Sadhana recounts how she could no longer hide her life and her profession from her father. Nonetheless, despite the fact that the film depicts ordinary women in various locations in Kolkata, the viewer has to keep in mind that these remarkable stories of resurrection and defiance are told against a backdrop of unbelievable squalor, poverty and degradation.

Tales of the Night Fairies opens up the debate about the legalisation of prostitution once again. Standing well outside the rhetorical positions that stem from morality, sex workers see themselves as equal citizens and workers who deserve the same rights and protections as the rest of us. The Sonagachi women are demanding the right to form a self-regulatory labour body that, for example, shuts down trafficking in minors. The DSMC is already actively involved in consciousness-raising and awareness-building programmes, like street theatre and the Millennium Carnival. This film joins that larger enterprise with vim and vigour.

For more information, contact: shohini@vsnl.net

InfoChange News and Features, September 2004