Normally, Bollywood actresses are known for their ability to dress and dance sexily on-screen while impressing the more demure audience members, but last month some Bollywood actresses were arrested for prostitution. On August 23, several Bollywood actresses were arrested for prostitutition in Tollywood along with prostitutes from Uzbekistan and their clients.

Much of the reason for the prostitution among Bollywood actresses lies in the fact that there is a well-documented link between organized crime in India and the film industry- as an example, in 2001 the top media mogul in India was arrested for his ties to organized crime.

There are a few different ways that the actresses are used as prostitutes. In one way, A-list actresses are proposed as prostitutes to potential clients who are then told that the elite actresses are unavailable. Instead, B- and C-list actresses are recruited by those in organized crime who have some association to the Bollywood film industry. Some of the prostitute-actresses are not actually actresses- rather, the women are marketed and advertised as actresses in film-trade magazines for movies that will never be made so that their pimps can earn more money for the women’s time.

Last year, another Bollywood actress was arrested for running a brothel which employed several models from a variety of Indian states as models.  Her 2009 arrest was her second. In 2002, the same Bollywood actress was also arrested for prostitution and she pleaded not guilty. I think it’s interesting that instead of being a madame to the stars like our very own Heidi Fleiss, she was a madame of the stars.

The actresses/prostitutes are not always B-list actresses, however. Last year, a former international beauty queen (Miss World Wella Paris 2007) was also arrested for prostitution. As this post observes, some of the actresses or models are also hired as personal escorts for parties or other kinds of engagements.

In general, prostitution in India is seen as a large problem because of the sheer number of women who are forced into prostitution. In 2007, The Stained Scarf, which is a loose translation of the title of a Bollywood film, depicted the life of an Indian girl caught in the same trap of prostitution that some working actresses in India are faced with- women who are forced to live their lives as bread-winners have few opportunities, especially when they hail from rural parts of the country.