Actress Alia Bhatt’s Gangubai Kathiawadi is one of the most awaited films of the year 2022. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial is loosely based on the life of Gangubai Harjivandas, a madame of Kamthipura. It is an adaption of one of the chapters from S. Hussain Zaidi’s book Mafia Queens of Mumbai. The film shows Alia’s character, Gangubai, being sold by her suitor to a brothel and her journey to becoming the most prominent figure in the red-light district.
While Alia has jetted off to Berlin to attend the world premiere of Gangubai Kathiawadi at the Berlinale Special Galas, her film is facing legal trouble in India. The family of Gangubai has sent a legal notice seeking a stay on the release of the film. They have accused filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and author S. Hussain Zaidi of defamation and character assassination. Alia’s name has also been mentioned in the legal notice.
In an interview, Gangubai’s family’s lawyer said that her adopted children had moved to court in 2020 when the first promo of the Alia Bhatt-starrer came out. A case seeking a stay on Gangubai Kathiawadi’s release is now pending in the Supreme Court of India and the family hopes it is heard before the release of the film. The period drama is scheduled to release in theatres on February 25.
“Nobody wants their mother to be portrayed as a prostitute. Even the son of a prostitute won’t want that. It is just for the sake of money, it assassinates the character of a person. It is not a matter of mother and son, it is a matter of respect and dignity for every woman. No woman would want to be portrayed in such a nude and obscene manner,” advocate Narendra Dubey told Hindustan Times.
“Even if we believe what Hussain Zaidi wrote in his book, he said Gangubai never wanted to become a prostitute. Would that woman then, want to be portrayed as a prostitute? She was a social worker and her family informed me that Morarji Desai, Jawahar Lal Nehru, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to visit her home during elections because she was a renowned face in Kamathipura at that point. She fought for the rights of prostitutes,” he added.
Recently, Gangubai’s adopted son Baburao and her granddaughter also expressed displeasure over her portrayal in the film. “They have turned my mother into a sex worker and people say things about her. I do not like it,” Baburao told Aaj Tak
