Highway Courtesans

Central India's Bachara community has an unusual, centuries-old local tradition: the eldest daughter born to every family must work as a prostitute to support her household (in fact, this sanctioned prostitution forms the core of the local economy). In this intimate coming-of-age portrait, filmmaker Mystelle Brabbee develops a close relationship with her subject, Guddi Chauhan, following her life as she grows from a giggling 16-year-old into a pensive 23-year-old grappling with tradition, family, love, and self-determination. Indeed, over the course of Highway Courtesans, Guddi's world turns upside down as she wrestles with the pressures of her demanding and dependent family, who want her to remain in the “profession,” servicing truckers on the roadside. Numerous interview clips with Guddi, her family, friends, and clients, are interwoven with ample footage of Guddi going about her day (which largely consists of waiting around for customers), chatting with family members, fighting with her on-again/off-again boyfriend, and discussing her work, life, and worries over a future in which the possibility of marriage is compromised by her reputation. Guddi's increasingly contemporary ideas begin to alienate her from her family, especially when she leaves the business to take a job at a local school for less wages. An intellectually satisfying film that eschews easy moralizing in favor of a close look into the hard financial, social, and interpersonal consequences of breaking with tradition, this is highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (A. Cantú)