KOMAL GANDHAR A SOCIAL CULTURAL SOCIETY

As workers in the entertainment sector, sex workers have always had strong association with performing arts, particularly with theatre, music and dance. The sex workers felt a need to develop a cultural wing of its own to express the thoughts and emotions of sex workers and to communicate their issues to the wider audience. Through the cultural wing sex workers champion their demands for workers rights and call for the decriminalization of sex work. There are a number of cultural troupes under Komal Gandhar i.e., dance, drama, choir, mimes, among others. They have performed all over India as well as abroad - receiving critical and popular acclaim. The cultural wing has also received lot of praises and won prizes from various competitions organized in India and abroad. Komal Gandhar has emerged as a unique platform which helps exchange ideas, thoughts across linguistic, religious and regional barriers to forge a common identity of sex workers across regions and countries. Komal Gandhar has played an effective and very useful role in furthering the sex workers movement.