It was Rani Mukerji's Mardani that evoked the same reaction in us. We were shocked, appalled and felt disgusted and even ashamed at the sight of how innocent girls are forced into prostitution. Rani Mukerji's film though was more on the commercial zone. Love Sonia covers the same ground minus the commerce being a mainstay. It looks more rooted in reality as terrific talents such as Mrunal Thakur, Richa Chaddha, Sai Tamhankar and Manoj Bajpayee deliver superlative performances.

Here's a blood-curdling teaser of the much talked about film. How a girl from small town with the starry dreams in her eyes land in the city of dreams Mumbai. How she is fooled into the notorious flesh trade in the city. The visuals shown here demand discretion.  How girls are treated and sold like cattle in this business that has no scope for values or morality will send shivers down your spine!

It would be pertinent to note that The Australian premiere of Love Sonia at the just-concluded Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) left the audience moved by the story of Sonia. The film tells the story of a 17-year-old who sets out to free her sister from the shackles of a sex trafficking nexus, but how she, unfortunately, gets caught in it herself.

"We've been careful in terms of not crossing the line, to not exploit the exploited. And whether it's the NGOs behind us or industry people, everyone has said one thing in common that we have done a really good job at being very subtle and have not crossed the line," Noorani told IANS in an interview.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 04, 2018 06:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).