Redlight to Limelight, part of the BBC's Storyville strand, follows the Cam On film-making collective in Kolkata's Boro Goli red light district. The collective comprises sex workers and their children, who are creating a drama called Nupur: The Story of Two Sisters based on their experiences. The documentary, directed by Bipuljit Basu, captures their efforts to build art out of suffering in a desperate environment.
Meena Haldar plays the mother in the film. Her real-life story began when she was beaten and thrown out of her marital home with her seven-month-old daughter. A taxi driver brought her to the red light district, where she has lived ever since. Her teenage son Bunty has started truanting from school, his face masking a deeper misery.
The documentary picks up many stories but rarely follows them to a conclusion. It gives little information about the women, making them seem an anonymous mass. The directing and editing mostly fall to the men, whose presence overwhelms the women's voices. For example, Rabin, the director of the collective's film, has a harrowing backstory but few details are explored.
Despite these flaws, Redlight to Limelight is powerful and moving. The despair and hopelessness on the faces of the women are a constant testimony to their extraordinary hardship. However, the lack of voice given to them makes it feel like a wasted opportunity, too slight to do them justice.
