The Courtesans of Bombay (1983): Cast

In Mumbai’s Pavanpul district, women work as courtesans, singing, dancing and providing sexual services for male patrons. Directors James Ivory and Ismail Merchant blend footage and scenes to expose darker side of Bollywood, where actors and dancers—forced into prostitution by their families, lose innocence and watch their stardom dreams shattered.

• IM Director Ismail Merchant

• Saeed Jaffrey
• ZS Zohra Sehgal as themselves
• KS Kareem Samar

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