‘Don’t legalise prostitution but address it’ vit: Gauahar

Whether prostitution should be legalised or not in India has been a long standing debate. But actor Gauahar Khan (left), who has just featured as a sex worker in her film Begum Jaan, says that at least the issue has to be addressed, if not legalised.

There are umpteen number of films made on the ordeals of sex workers. Asked about her views on if prostitution should be legalised in India, Gauahar says, “Who am I to make that decision? I think, each to his own. It’s very much here... So, to shut your eyes about it and say it doesn’t exist isn’t helping the situation. So, don’t legalise it but at least address it, at least know that it exists and kind of make it known for the society also.”

In Srijit Mukherji’s Begum Jaan, the actor essays the role of a sex worker named Rubina in a brothel, whose head is portrayed by actor Vidya Balan. Elaborating on her views, Gauahar says, “It isn’t like you don’t see prostitutes in cities like Mumbai or Delhi or anywhere else. They are there. People know that they exist. So how about reaching out to that in a better way.”

“There should be a channel for how you can protect them and their rights. I’m no one to endorse it, I’m no one to say it is right, I’m just saying that it exists. It just needs to be dealt with,” she says.

Talking about the plight of sex workers in a poverty striken country, Gauahar says, “Prostitution is not exactly profession. It is there; it is looked down upon, which could be an ideology of people... But it is what they do to survive, at the end of the day,” she says.

I’m no one to endorse it, I’m no one to say it is right, I’m just saying that it exists. It needs to be dealt with GAUAHAR KHAN, ACTOR

PHOTO: HAIDER KHAN