Gangubai Kathiawadi Review: Powerful human drama embellished with terrific performances and moments
Gangubai Kathiawadi Movie Rating: 3.5 Stars
Just watched Gangubai Kathiawadi movie on Netflix. So let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn, Vijay Raaz, Seema Pahwa, Indira Tiwari and Shantanu Maheshwari
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Release Date: 25th February 2022 in Cinemas & Digital Premiere on 26th April on Netflix
Story: The film is loosely based on the life of Gangubai Harjivandas, popularly known as Gangubai Kothewali, whose life was chronicled in the book Mafia Queens of Mumbai written by S. Hussain Zaidi.
Set in 50’s Ganga Harjivandas (Alia Bhatt) lives in Kathiawad and belongs to a family of lawyers. Ganga wants to be an actress and her boyfriend Ramneek (Varun Kapoor) tells her that he’ll help her bag a role in a big Hindi film. She elopes with him with plenty of jewellery and money but he isn’t what he seems. He sells her off to a brothel for a thousand rupees and runs away. Ganga is forced by brothel owner Sheela Bai (Seema Pahwa) to take to the life of a prostitute.
Ganga accepts her reality but can’t see herself as a victim. She vows to oust Sheela Bai soon and take over the whole of Kamathipura one day. And she manages to do it with the help of mafia don Rahim Lala (Ajay Devgn) who accepts her as his sister and stands behind her in every difficulty. Over time, Gangubai becomes the voice of the sex workers of Kamathipura. She is also elected president of the area, displacing Raziabai (Vijay Raaz).
A noble-hearted journalist Fezi (Jim Sarbh) writes a cover story about how Gangubai is fighting for the children of sex workers and their right to education, because of which her popularity soars. She falls in love with her tailor’s nephew Afsaan (Shantanu Maheshwari). How she either charms or cajoles her ways out of difficulties forms the crux of the film.
Positives
1. Excellent Performances
2. Climax
3. Story
4. Direction
5. Cinematography
Negatives
1. Length
2. Screenplay
3. Music
Durgesh Tiwary’s View : When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie on digital premiere because missed to watch this film in theatre due to Covid-19 era.
Based on S. Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges’ hard-hitting book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai,’ Gangubai Kathiawadi chronicles Ganga’s rise to power and fame from a demure small-town girl in Gujarat, to the undisputed queen of kamathipura in Mumbai. the movie is about her journey from the time she was forced into prostitution till the day she gave thousands of ladies in her business the gest and right to live life unapologetically and not be ashamed of who they are.
The story is interesting and raises some important issues. Screenplay is entertaining and dramatic but bit proceed bit slow during 2nd half. Dialogues are powerful and one of the best in recent times. In several scenes, it’s the hard-hitting one liners that enhance the impact. The film gets better once Ganga turns into Gangu. All scenes of Rahim Lala give a lot of weightage to the narrative. Cinematography is topnotch and the Kamathipura set visuals are captured beautifully. But even with whatever is packed into this drama, there are enough moments that will draw you into this world where nights seem endless and the lights never fade.
The beauty of the film lies in how it shows Gangu’s character transform through various stages in her life. The narrative takes time to build up, even slowing down along the way, but not without leaving an impact through fiery dialogues and powerful moments. It is an interesting tale and gives an insight into the lives of the women whom society shuns. The plot holds on to some hugely dramatic scenes and clap-worthy dialogues, which keep you engaged, in a film that feels too long for it’s run-time. Overall its powerful human drama embellished with terrific moments and a career best performance by Alia Bhatt. My view on this movie Recommended.
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