# Love Sonia

Love Sonia is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Tabrez Noorani and produced by David Womark. The film features newcomer Mrunal Thakur as the title character along with Riya Sisodiya, Freida Pinto, Demi Moore, Manoj Bajpayee, Richa Chadda, Anupam Kher, Adil Hussain, Rajkummar Rao, and Sai Tamhankar. Love Sonia had its world premiere at the London Indian Film Festival on 21 June 2018. The film was released in India on 14 September 2018 and theatrically in the UK on 25 January 2019.

## Synopsis

The film is about two sisters robbed of their innocence when one is sold by her debt-ridden father, and the other follows after her in the hope of rescuing her but becomes trapped in the sex trade herself. While on a troublesome and challenging journey that takes us through the red-light districts of Mumbai, the latent innocence in the younger sister and the grit to rescue her sister and eventually herself stays intact.

## Plot

Preeti and Sonia are two daughters of a debt-ridden poor farmer, Shiva, who lives approximately 1400 kms away from Mumbai. The sisters love each other deeply and are willing to go to any length to protect each other. A village boy named Amar is deeply in love with Sonia. Amar helps the sisters create their individual email IDs to stay in touch with each other. Shiva, who is indebted to a local landlord Dada Thakur, agrees to sell Preeti to a prostitute Anjali, to pay off his debt. Sonia desperately attempts to save Preeti from being sold but fails. That night, she mercifully requests Dada Thakur to send her to Mumbai, to meet Preeti. Subsequently, Anjali whisks away Sonia to Mumbai under the pretext of reuniting her with Preeti. Anjali sells her in a brothel owned by Faizal a.k.a. Babu and controlled by the brothel madame Madhuri. Sonia is terribly scared and traumatized by the atmosphere of the brothel. Another prostitute Rashmi befriends her. While trying to escape from the brothel Sonia is caught by Faizal who threatens to kill her if she tries to run away again. After multiple pleas, Faizal agrees to let Sonia meet Preeti, who has become a drug-addict, high profile prostitute. Preeti angrily reprimands Sonia for letting their dad sell her and throws her away and she was jealous of her. Meanwhile, Shiva begs Dada Thakur to return Sonia to him. Anjali provides Shiva the address to Kamathipura and directs him to Mumbai. Shiva frantically searches for Sonia in all the red-light areas of Mumbai. Meanwhile, a social worker named Manish approaches Sonia and extracts details about Preeti from her. He raids Faizal's brothel to rescue Sonia and another pre-teen named Asha. However, Sonia refuses to leave. Rashmi severs ties with Sonia when she accuses her of stealing Preeti's anklet, the only souvenir of Preeti left with Sonia. Faizal ships off Madhuri, Sonia and several other girls to Hong Kong in a cargo container. Madhuri, who till that time was hostile towards Sonia, starts looking after her affectionately. Sonia ends up getting raped by a Chinese customer. She forcefully undergoes a hymen reconstruction procedure to prove her a virgin. The girls are again shipped to Los Angeles, where a relatively friendly client allows Sonia to get in touch with Amar via email. He also gifts her a mobile phone. At a party, Madhuri commits suicide by slitting her wrist. Sonia runs away from her handlers, deep into the forests. A destitute Sonia, while trying to eat from a dustbin, is rescued by a social worker Salma who runs a NGO named C.A.S.T. Sonia finally finds peace of mind in the shelter home along with several other rescued girls and women. One day, Salma and Manish surprise her by reconnecting her with Preeti over a video call. Preeti tearfully asks for forgiveness and requests her to return. Six months later, Sonia returns to Manish's shelter home where she shockingly finds out that Preeti goes back to prostitution due to her drug addiction. Sonia begins her life all over again with a renewed hope in the shelter home. Her parents come to meet her but she refuses to go with them.Her father tries to talk to him but She didn't say a word to him and neither hug him. She also patches up with Amar. Finally, she sends an email to Preeti stating that no matter what happens, she will surely find her someday and her sister was most beautiful girl in the world.

## Cast

* Mrunal Thakur as Sonia Singhania
* Richa Chadda as Madhuri
* Anupam Kher as Baldev Singh/Dada Thakur
* Adil Hussain as Shiva Singhania; Sonia and Preeti’s father
* Rajkummar Rao as Manish
* Sai Tamhankar as Anjali
* Mark Duplass as an American expatriate
* Demi Moore as Selma
* Manoj Bajpayee as Faizal/Babu
* Freida Pinto as Rashmi
* Riya Sisodiya as Preeti Singhania
* Abhishek Bharate as Amar Kumar; Sonia’s love interest
* Ankur Vikal as hotel manager
* Sunny Pawar as Bang Bang
* Kiran Khoje as Sonia and Preeti’s mother
* Barbie Rajput as Asha
* Aarti Mann as Jiah
* Abhinav Gupta as Bunty Bhai
* Nikhil Raj as Jeetu

## Production
### Development

Tabrez Noorani was inspired to make Love Sonia after he was introduced to the severity of human trafficking in Los Angeles in 2003, when some girls were found in a shipping container from China. One of them was a young Indian girl. The incident inspired Noorani to work with non-governmental organizations focused on trafficking in Los Angeles. He has also participated in several brothel raids. Noorani and Womark met on Ang Lee's Life of Pi and have been working on the project for three years. This film basically revolves around a scenario that depicts the human trafficking of girls for heinous practices that are portrayed in the red-light areas of Mumbai depicting the sorrow of prostitutes on a large scale.

### Casting

Mrunal Thakur was cast in the title role after a year long search of over 2,500 girls.

### Filming

The principal photography started in late April 2016 in India and also filmed in Hong Kong and Los Angeles.

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
| Indian Film Festival of Melbourne | 10 Aug 2018 – 22 Aug 2018 | Best Indie Film | Love Sonia | Won | [13] [14] |
| Indian Film Festival of Melbourne | 10 Aug 2018 – 22 Aug 2018 | Best Director | Tabrez Noorani | Nominated | [13] [14] |
| Indian Film Festival of Melbourne | 10 Aug 2018 – 22 Aug 2018 | Best Supporting Performance | Richa Chadda | Won | [13] [14] |
| Indian Film Festival of Melbourne | 10 Aug 2018 – 22 Aug 2018 | Best Supporting Performance | Freida Pinto | Nominated | [13] [14] |
| London Indian Film Festival | 21 Jun 2018 – 29 Jun 2018 | Best Newcomer Award | Mrunal Thakur | Won | |
| London Indian Film Festival | 21 Jun 2018 – 29 Jun 2018 | Outstanding Achievement Award | Richa Chadda | Won | |