“अरे! हम हैं तो समाज हैं। और इतनी ही फिकर हैं तो मर्दो को बांध के रखो ना घर पे| मर्द खरीदता है तभीच तो औरत बेचती हैं अपनेआप को।”

With the pace of an elderly, weary woman, Rukminibai (Shabana Azmi) thunders while pulling her loose पल्लु over her breast with the unabashed sultriness of a former courtesan. She then requests a song from Zeenat (Smita Patil), the treasured virgin of the brothel, to relieve her concerns as the matriarch of a home that is continuously challenged by the patriarchal society outside its doors. The premise and its story Mandi tells the tale of this feisty old madame of a brothel and her ‘girls’ who struggle to survive on their matriarchal island in the midst of a patriarchal society that relentlessly attempts to undermine the sanctity of a place where women are free from the social, economic, and sexual mores that are imposed by the patriarchal, middle class morality. The story’s basic premise is taken from G

Author-Gopi Shah