---
title: 'The Courtesans of Bombay (1983)'
type: 'film'
director: 'Ismail Merchant'
released: '1983-01-01'
genres:
  - 'Documentary'
  - 'Drama'
countries:
  - 'United Kingdom'
canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/movies/the-courtesans-of-bombay-1983'
review_count: 0
imdb: 'https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163591/'
publisher: 'CinePixo'
---

# The Courtesans of Bombay (1983)

1983 · Documentary, Drama · United Kingdom


## Synopsis

The Courtesans of Bombay is a 1983 British docudrama directed by Ismail Merchant. A collaboration by Merchant, James Ivory, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. The film focuses on a Bombay compound known as Pavan Pool, where women aspiring to work in the entertainment industry dance for donations from a male audience by day and, it is broadly suggested although never specifically stated, work as prostitutes by night. It was broadcast by Channel 4 in the UK in January 1983 and went into limited theatrical release in the United States on 19 March 1986.

## Credits

- **Director:** [Ismail Merchant](https://cinepixo.com/people/ismail-merchant)
- **Screenplay:** [Ruth Prawer Jhabvala](https://cinepixo.com/people/ruth-prawer-jhabvala)
- **Director of Photography:** [Vishnu Mathur](https://cinepixo.com/people/vishnu-mathur)
- **Editor:** [Amit Bose](https://cinepixo.com/people/amit-bose)

## Cast

- [Zohra Sehgal](https://cinepixo.com/people/zohra-sehgal)
- [Saeed Jaffrey](https://cinepixo.com/people/saeed-jaffrey)

## Criticism on CinePixo

No reviews published yet.

Source: https://cinepixo.com/movies/the-courtesans-of-bombay-1983
Film facts: Wikidata (Q7727858); synopsis from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Reviews, themes and notes are the work of this site's members.