After an illustrious career in Bollywood spanning decades, film actor Anil Kapoor has made inroads into Hollywood, most notably as the show host in the film Slumdog Millionaire, as well as on American television series like 24. Here we speak to him about his latest project, CNN Project Freedom’s documentary Trapped by Tradition, about a village in India where men routinely sell women in their family into the sex trade. Trapped by Tradition airs on CNN on the following dates: Sep 24 (8pm), Sep 25 (2am, 6pm), Sep 26 (8am), Sep 27 (4:30pm), Sep 28 (12:30am)

We’re familiar in Thailand with the trafficking of women purposes. But the documentary deals with a particularly strange version of this problem. Can you elaborate?
Of course it’s a global problem. But I can only depict what happens in India, which is densely populated, there are lots of small villages and towns, and the borders are quite porous. In Bharatpur, Rajasthan, trafficking women is part of the culture. It’s a tradition. The women go into the sex trade, while the men sit at home. You’ll find a woman supporting her mother, sister, brother and brother’s children, through the sex trade.

How do the men justify this?
They are deluded about it. They seem to think it isn’t happening, or that is isn’t just as bad as drugs and terrorism, or that innocent lives are ruined because of it.

How did you become involved with this issue?
I am a patron of an Indian NGO, called Plan India, which addresses such social problems.

Your reputation precede you. Are people more or less forthcoming knowing who you are?
Actually, they tend to open up to me. But people who are in the trade won’t come forward; that’s impossible for me to access. But the people who have information have come forward. I’ve spoken to cops, politicians, industrialists. Currently, the punishment for trafficking is five years of imprisonment, which is obviously not enough.

What incident or piece of information shocked you the most during filming?
I met a lady in her early 40s who has been in the business, and I asked to go to her house and meet her family. The condition of their home was shocking: unhygienic, unlivable. I could not believe my eyes. I met her mother. I wanted to find out if she was aware of what that happened, if she intended things to turn out this way. But she’d gone completely numb, like all her faculties weren’t there. She didn’t remember anything; she didn’t want to remember it. She couldn’t forgive herself for letting it happen. Of course, the main reason this happens is poverty. When you don’t have anything to eat, sometimes you go to extents which are unthinkable, and that’s what happened to this mother. She broke down. I kept on asking questions, but she couldn’t remember anything.

So what’s next?
This is just a baby step we’ve taken. The long way entails going to other villages, meeting the bureaucrats. It’s a lifelong process, and it has to be passed on to generations. Next we’re going to a state called Andhra Pradesh, where some girls have been saved, but the process of rehabilitation has also been traumatic for them. There are even situations where small NGOs are actually a front for further sex trafficking. It’s very hard to tell if a girl is a regular girl, or if she’s a victim. It’s not written on their faces. Some NGOs are working quietly; they’re doing raids and fame makes it difficult for them to carry them out.

Your career has come a long way and you’re not making forays into international film and television productions–and now a documentary, too. Where do you see yourself going from here?
I’d like to use whatever standing I have to do my bit and spread awareness. And, of course, to do more films as an actor. The more recognition I have, the more influence I have and the easier it becomes to spread this awareness.