This is based on a true story. Her name was Gangubai Harjeevandas later
changed to Gangubai Kathiawadi. She was the Mafia Queen of Bombay. In the
1950s still in her teens she fell in love and eloped with a man to Bombay
where she hoped to become a star in Bollywood and act with Dev Anand. Instead,
her newly married husband sold her to a brothel in Kamathipura, the red-light
district in the city. And there she stayed all her life. She could not go
home out of shame and once branded as a prostitute there was no other life
for you. There were some 4,000 other women with similar stories - sold into
prostitution at a young age and no way out. She came from a good family and
was educated - and determined to make things better - not just for her but
for all the women in Kamathipura. The film takes liberties with her story
but most of it is based on fact. She met Nehru and asked for rights for prostitutes.
She became a legend and after she died statues of her were set up in brothels.
Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is probably Bollywood's most respected director.
He uses a large canvas for his stories and fills it with stunning detail,
beauty and powerful music. His 2002 period film Devdas was glorious in every
detail and some of his films that followed were equally sumptuous and fabulous
eye-candy. This is wonderfully shot with textures, details, period ambiance,
architectural structures, shops and streets that pull you back decades. Perhaps
it is too beautiful - a story about prostitutes feels like it should be ugly
and filled with grime and sadness and though the lives of these women are
not portrayed in a positive light, they are resigned to their fate, make the
best of it, take pride in their looks and surroundings but most of all they
feel a sisterhood for the other girls in their home, in their profession.
Certainly, one could object to this woman being played by the lovely diminutive
Alia Bhatt, but this is after all a movie.
Gangu is brought to Bombay by her boyfriend with dreams of Bollywood in
her eyes. Thousands of girls made similar trips. Very few became stars, some
became extras or background dancers, many went home, some ended up in prostitution.
Her boyfriend takes her to see his "aunt" who locks Gangu up in a room for
six days. The brothel owner Seema (Seema Pahwa) is a monster, rolls of decaying
flesh hanging off of her, eyes long gone dead, made up like a corpse - a smaller
sized Jabba the Hut. Her girls are commodities to her to be treated like
merchandise ready to be rented in a small room with only a squeaky mattress
and peeling paint. Gangu soon realizes that this is her life - she can never
go back - and so she learns the tricks of the trade. How to stand outside
with her arm thrown up and back, leaning against the wall, her other arm enticing
customers. She soon is the leader among the women in her brothel and promises
them that the brothel will be hers someday.
A sadistic customer brutalizes her one day sending her to the hospital.
This so enrages her that she goes to the top Mafia Don, Rahim Lala (Ajay
Devgn) and asks for his protection. The next time the customer shows up he
is the one brutalized. She strikes an alliance with Rahim that allows her
to keep rising in the system until she is running Kamathipura. In a speech
to the women, she tells them three things - always be honest in a dishonest
trade, give good service but be sure to be paid and to believe in their dignity
and that they are better than any man. It is a terrific film with many great
scenes and moments that work emotionally without feeling like it is playing
to you. Stunning imagery - one scene of her dead friend being seated up and
prepared for burial by all the women will take your breath away. Bhatt is
amazing in a breakthrough role for her and so is everyone else. There
is none of that overacting that so many Bollywood films suffer from. It might
seem odd to have musical numbers in a film like this but they are strategically
placed and work fine. Lovely numbers with the music written by Bhansali.
