Gangubai’s adopted family demands stay on ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’

With just days before the film is about to release, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ is facing legal woes. It’s thought that the adopted family of the real Gangubai are demanding a stay on the film’s release.

Legal notices have been reportedly sent to Bhansali and the author of ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’, the book on which ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ is based, Hussein Zaidi.

The family’s legal representative said, according to Hindustan Times, “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. 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”.

“We moved for a stay soon after the first promo for the film came in 2020. We moved in September 2020. The trial court confirmed the adoption but the high court has asked for proof of adoption. The high court is asking about proof of adoption. The case (seeking a stay on the film’s release) is now pending in the Supreme Court of India. We hope it gets a hearing before the film releases,” he added.

The film is set for it’s grand premiere at Berlinale where Alia Bhatt and Bhansali are now.