A review of the new Indian film “Gangubai Kathiawdi”

Non-Indian viewers will initially be mystified by the title of this Hindi-language film, but it refers to a real person on whose life the work is loosely based. She is Ganga Jagjivandas Kathiawadi whose story was documented in the book “Mafia Queens Of Mumbai” written by S. Hussain Zaidi.

In spite of this true life origin, the movie is preceded by a lengthy disclaimer insisting that it is “not intended to be a biography” and is “not designed to hurt or distain” any individual, community or religion. I guess this sensitivity from the film’s producers is because the lead character is a prostitute and the work calls for prostitution and the rights of prostitutes to be respected – a radical position in any country but especially India.

The same disclaimer calls on viewers to see the film as “for the purpose of entertainment” and this two and a half work does indeed entertain with the essential Bollywood features of a few songs and dances. But this is a superior Bollywood movie with fine acting – including an outstanding titular performance by Alia Bhatt – and some splendid camerawork (the story is set and filmed in Mumbai).

It is rare for a Bollywood film to be headed by a female actor and Alia Bhatt must have taken a risk in portraying a prostitute so positively, but the outcome is a triumph and highly recommended. Credit too to the director and writer Sanjay Leela Bhansali who was brought up in south Bombay (now Mumbai).

Catch it on Netflix.


 




XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>