A highly anticipated Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bollywood movie Gangubai Kathiawadi is set to release on 30th July 2021.
As the movie’s trailer released Alia Bhatt’s avatar in the titular role in the movie is creating huge buzz on social media.
The movie is based on 1 of the 13 woman from the book Mafia Queens of Mumbai written by Hussain Zaidi.
Now the question comes who was Gangubai Kathiawadi ?
Gangubai Kathiawadi was a known lady mafia for running the famous red-light area in Mumbai’s Kamathipura.
Gangubai Kathiawadi belongs to Kathiawad in India’s state of Gujrat so she got this surname.
In 1960 she use to run several brothels in Kamathipura in Mumbai. In 1960’s Gangubai Kathiawadi was known as Gangubai Kothewali because of her profession.
As Gangubai was a renowned brothel owner had a deep connection with the underworld because of which she had immense power and influence.
However she was not born with power and influence. Gangu ran away from her father’s house and came to Bombay to become an actress in Bollywood but she was cheated by her lover who sold her to a brothel in Bombay’s Kamathipura.
Gangu had nowhere to go decided to accept her fate and began working as a sex worker. Soon she became the most talked-about and in-demand sex worker.
Her rich client’s helped her grow her contacts in politics and other businesses.
She had connection with the underworld as once she was raped by a gangster working for the famous don Karim Lala. After this incident she became Karim Lala’s rakhi sister who in return taught her rapist a fatal lesson.
Gangubai emerged as Matriarch of Kamathipura after her connection with Karim Lala.
Gangubai was also known for her lavish lifestyle with gold border saris and heavy gold jewellery. This is quite visible in Alia’s costume in the film.
Gangubai was also concern for the the well-being of the sex workers and she worked tirelessly for the rights of prostitutes.
Due to this she even meet then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and discussed the problems faced by sex workers face on a day to day basis.
