Lakshmi 2014

Lakshmi, Monali Thakur, a 14-year-old girl, is kidnapped from her village and brought to Hyderabad. She is taken to the home of Reddy, Chinna’s elder brother and boss, Satish Kaushik, where she initially assumes the role of a domestic worker, helping the older maid Amma, Vibha Chibber. However, she is later raped by Reddy. The next day, Chinna,Nagesh Kukunoor takes Lakshmi to a brothel run by Jyothi, Shefali Shah, who is both a reassuring and oppressive presence for the other girls. After her first night, Lakshmi manages to run away to a nearby police station, but her complaint falls on deaf ears since Reddy has paid off the local police. Thrown into this horrific, inhuman world, she survives with the help of the other girls and her own will to never give in. She forms a close friendship with her roommate Swarna, Flora Saini.

At the brothel, Lakshmi meets Uma, Priyanka, a kindhearted woman who periodically brings the girls sanitary items, condoms and sweets. While servicing a client at his home, Lakshmi tries to escape but is caught and punished by Chinna. She develops an infection due to the injury and is nursed by Jyothi and Swarna, Flora Saini, but is ultimately forced to work again when a client demands a young girl. The client turns out to be an undercover agent Mohan, Ramakrishna Shenoy who operates with the help of Jyothi and Uma, and Reddy and Chinna are arrested. The girls are taken to a women’s shelter, where Lakshmi recovers, but the case against Reddy stagnates since no one is willing to testify against him. The brothel is reopened and one by one, the women slowly return, until Lakshmi is the only one left at the shelter.

Against all odds, Lakshmi shows courage where everybody else fails. Her lawyer is in retirement due to having previously suffered a nervous breakdown, and initially refuses to take the case. He believes that Lakshmi will not be able to withstand the immense stress of the case, since she is the only witness against a powerful trafficking syndicate. Resisting all pressure - violent threats, coercion and bribes, she stands up in court. Her testimony reveals that her father sold her to a local politician, who in turn sold her to Reddy. At the brothel, Chinna beats and tortures Jyothi as punishment for her betrayal, and also reveals to Jyothi’s daughter that she works there. Later that night, Jyothi castrates Chinna and slits her own wrists, resulting in them both bleeding to death. The trial results in a landmark judgement in India, succeeding in putting the traffickers behind bars.