Gangubai Kathiawadi in trouble? Petitioners move HC to drop Kamathipura name

A Maharashtra MLA and a Kamathipura resident have petitioned the Bombay high court against using the name of their locality in the Hindi film Gangubai Kathiawadi, which is slated to release on Friday (February 25).

The petitioners said that the movie shows Kamathipura area in a bad light, which defames the residents living in the area. They did not want the film to carry any reference to the name Kamathipura and sought the name to be censored or deleted. The petition suggested the filmmakers could change the name to Mayapuri or Mayanagari.

Shraddha Surve, a resident of Kamathipura where a number of brothels operated in the past, has filed the petition which will be heard by a division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar on Wednesday (February 23). The petition sought an urgent hearing as the movie is all set to release this Friday.

Another PIL has been filed by MLA Amin Patel, who has raised a similar objection. His petition will be heard before a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice M S Karnik too on Wednesday.

Also read: Ranaut takes a dig at Alia Bhatt’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, expects film to tank

The Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed film is based on a chapter from journalist turned author S Hussain Zaidi’s book Mafia Queens of Mumbai. The film features Alia Bhatt as the protagonist Gangubai, one of the most powerful, and respected ‘madams’ from Kamathipura during the 1960s, who had fought for the rights of sex workers.

The petition filed by Surve said that Kamathipura should not be mentioned at all. “Let the name be changed to anything else Mayapuri or Mayanagari,” the plea said. Further, Surve pointed out in the petition that currently, “not even five per cent of the Kamathipura area is active in prostitution”.

The plea claimed the reputation of the area was at stake now after the derogatory wild allegations made in the film’s trailer that the entire area is a red-light hub. This will make it difficult for the girls living in the area who will all be looked upon as sex workers. They will be teased and taunted and the dignity of the families will be impacted, said the plea.