Alia Bhatt makes it real

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.

Women invitingly standing at the doorstep of a kotha (brothel) in the bustling bylanes of south Mumbai’s infamous red-light area Kamathipura, is a scene that is real, tragic and dramatic. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, set entirely against this gritty backdrop of Mumbai, tells the story of many young women who were sold off to brothels for a few hundred, solely through the eyes of its protagonist Gangubai (Alia Bhatt).

It’s sometime in the early 1950s or 1960s when a starry-eyed and naive Ganga is conned by her own lover Ramnik (Varun Kapoor) to elope with a promise that he will pave the path for her to make it as a heroine in Bollywood. What turns out is that Ganga (who rechristens herself as Gangu, and eventually Gangubai), ends up being the heroine of Kamathipura instead. Over the years, Kamathipura becomes her home, the brothel girls her family and all of Kamathipura her domain. But her journey is fraught with challenges, opponents and a social stigma that brings out the fighter within her.

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 some fiery dialogues and powerful moments.

It’s an Alia Bhatt show all the way, as she slips into the role of the bosslady in a world full of brothels and lustful men. It might take a while to feel comfortable with the idea of Alia playing this part, and she too takes her time to settle in. She does deliver the much-loaded dialogues with supreme confidence, audacity and a killer instinct. What’s unmissable and strange in all of this, while the narrative moves ahead, is that the physical appearance of Alia’s character, always clad in pretty whites, remains unchanged.