As A.R Rehman walked up the stage, with pride in his heart, to receive the Oscar for Best Music, one woman sat in front of TV, remembering the joy of walking on the red carpet.

This is the faded story of Preeti, popularly called Puja, a prostitute by profession and part of the 2005 Academy Awards winner “Born In The Brothel” directed by Zana Briski. This is the long lost story of an Oscar winner turned sex trader.

In 2002 she was casted in the movie, along with other 9 children, which got completed in 2004 and went on to win about 20 international awards, capped by the Oscar.

In 2005, Preeti walked the stage of Kodak Theatre, not just to receive Oscar, but with a chance to change her life. “It seems like a fairy tale now. I still see it in my dreams. I get goose bumps when I remember the heart-stopping moment when the award was announced”, confesses Preeti.

After being nominated for Oscars the makers of the film decided to take the kids to L.A and later tried their best to rehabilitate the kids. But destiny had some other plans in store.

According to Preeti, Zana wanted to pull her out of the sex trade, but Preeti turned down the offer on her mother’s insistence, who came from the same business.

Four years from the Oscar incident, Preeti today resides in Asia’s biggest Red Light area, Sonagacchi, without any hint of guilt or remorse in her eyes. She believes that she was destined to be in this business and that it has given her everything she could have asked from life.

Looking like just another teenage girl, Preeti has experienced bitter emotions too early in life.  Now a part of a high profile sex racket, she wears a hidden smile that conceals her longing for freedom.

From Princess to Prostitute, Strange are the ways of life.

Tag: HEART, PRIDE, REHMAN, WALKED, TV REMEMBERING, FRONT TV, FRONT TV REMEMBERING, WOMAN SAT, SAT FRONT, STAGE, MUSIC, REMEMBERING, SAT, FRONT, JOY, CARPET, WOMAN, WALKING, RED, TV,