The Real Woman Behind the Story of Gangubai Kathiawadi

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Gangubai Kathiawadi is a biographical crime film which will be Alia Bhatt’s first project with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film is based on the real-life of a famous brothel owner and matriarch mafia queen “Gangubai”.

Gangubai Kathiawadi’s life has been chronicled in a chapter devoted to her, in the book “Mafia Queens of Mumbai”, written by the best-selling novelist S Hussain Zaidi.

While the most awaited Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Gangubai Kathiawadi’s teaser has been making rounds on social media, it has also created anxiety among the fans about the real story behind Gangubai Kathiawadi.

Who is Gangubai?

The real name of Gangubai was Ganga Harjivandas Kathiawadi. Born into a prestigious family of lawyers and teachers in Kathiawar in Gujarat, in 1939, she aspired to become an actress in childhood.

She fell in love with her father’s accountant, Ramnik Laal at the age of 16 and left her family for her husband. She fled to Mumbai with the hope of starting a new life with her husband, but her life turned upside down when she was deceived and sold to a brothel by him for Rs. 500. She had no choice but to embrace the ways of destiny and swing it in her favor.

The Sister of Don

She started as a sex worker in Kamathipura. Being violently abused by a member of mafia don Karim Lala, she sought her revenge by reporting to Karim Lala and demanded justice for her. She eventually became the sister of Karim Lala by tying him a rakhi and securing her safety.

She soon became one of the most well-paid commercial sex workers and was the most feared and respected sex worker in Kamathipura, Mumbai.

Madam of Kamathipura

She began to develop strong ties with the Mumbai underworld under the influence of the don, Karim Lala, and came to be known as the “Madam of Kamathipura” for being an influential pimp in the city with connections with criminals, peddling drugs, and murders.

At a young age, she won the local gharwali elections held to determine ranks among the sex workers of Kamathipura and called herself “Gangubai Kathewali”, a corruption of the word kothewali. The steps taken by Gangubai for the improvement of the sex workers community made her ‘The queen of Kamathipura.’

She was the only brothel owner to own a black Bentley during those times.

An Advocate of Sex Workers Rights

Gangubai Kathiawadi is a truly empowered woman and fought for the recognition of sex workers. Gangubai, herself being a victim of the prostitution trade, was known to be compassionate towards other women and used her influence for the empowerment of sex workers and advocated for their rights.

Despite being a brothel owner, she cared for sex workers like a mother. She was an ardent supporter of her fellow females in the business and never forced any girl into prostitution without their consent.

“Gangubai was known as the only brothel madam who gave importance to women but not business or money.”

She maintained and operated many brothels in the red-light district of the city and earned the title President of Kamathipura. She was the first woman to open a franchise of brothels and different cities of the country.

She even approached Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to discuss the difficulties encountered by sex workers in India.

Even today, the statue of Gangubai is set up in Kamathipura and her pictures still can be seen on the walls of Kamathipura.

With Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgan starring in the lead roles, the film is ready to hit the theatres on 30 July 2021.

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You know that you are living in a messed up country when a state’s Chief Minister who says, “I feel that the marriage age of daughters should be increased from 18 to 21 years”, also says, “A new system will be used to safeguard working women, under which any woman moving out of her house for her work will register herself at the local police station, and she will be tracked for her safety”.

Main roun ya hasun, karun main kya karun?

While I contemplate if I should laugh or cry, I realize that a surprise reaction is now normal for us as women of this country. How is this a solution, I wonder? Instead of coming up with a system to track harassers, molesters and rape accused, here the onus is again on the woman to sacrifice her liberty, privacy, and her fundamental rights of basic existence to protect herself.

As women continue to pave their way with struggles and difficulties in a man’s world, and while the men in authority struggle to find ways to curb crimes against women, the easiest solution they have found is to cage women. Not just now. Every time. How easy right?!

The idea of always monitoring women, snatching their liberty and privacy is an easier solution than questioning the incapacity of the police to do their jobs. Instead, a system is devised to track working women, just like how animals are fitted with a tracking system or devices with a GPS. This is nothing but an apparatus to make us women conform all the more than we already were.

Being eve teased? Don’t wear provocative clothes.

Getting raped? Don’t go out at night.

Men will be men, they will commit crimes and rapes.

You just need to be more careful as a woman.

Because men can’t keep it in their pants or control their provocative gaze at lady parts, let’s just ask women to cover up themselves, no matter the comfort level or the weather conditions. That way we men won’t get tempted to look at them.

And when women question this we will objectify them by equating them candies and precious stones which need to be covered or protected.

In a country where we already have it hard to live a free life as a woman, think what will happen if this system comes into place?

Imagine these scenarios:

· If a woman refuses to get tracked and later gets harassed, she will be held responsible.

· Moral policing will happen based on where they go, what they do.

· As always, it will be easy to blame women for any untoward incidents because “she meets so many men, goes to clubs, drinks,” etc.

· Parents and husbands will bribe police officers and to monitor their daughters and wives.

Men in authority have mansplained women’s roles to suit their agenda. I really want to know why women are not involved in such decision-making? Oh wait, they are! Remember how a senior member of the National Commission for Women (NCW) suggested, “Women should avoid going out after dark,” after a 50-year-old Anganwadi worker was allegedly gang-raped in a temple, brutalized and killed the village in UP’s Badaun? She even said that this incident wouldn’t have occurred had a male member accompanied her.

Are you laughing or crying now? Wait, here are a few other times politicians have made some bizarre statements that continue to attack basic human rights:

· Boys will be boys, they commit mistakes- Samajwadi Party supremo

· Two men raping a woman cannot be termed as gang rape- Former Karnataka Home Minister

· If a woman is caught (in a rape case), then both she and the boy should be punished- SP’s State President

· Best way to curb India’s population growth is to provide electricity to Indian villages so that couples spend their time watching TV instead of procreating and increasing the population- Former Health and Family Welfare Minister

· Crimes against women won’t happen in “Bharat” or the rural areas of the country. You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gang-rape or sex crimes- RSS Chief

· Women shouldn’t participate in protests- Chief Justice

· Hindu women shouldn’t do interfaith marriage- UP CM

· Women should just be housewives- RSS Chief

· Girls can reproduce at 15, so why should their marital age be increased from 18 to 21?- MP Congress Leader

Shocked yet? Let me tell you one more.

Daniel Shravan, a filmmaker, had suggested that every woman should carry a condom at a rapist’s disposal so that they can offer them a hassle-free experience. He also took to Facebook (the post has now been deleted) where he posted a number of messages where he proposed a “rape without violence” scheme which will at least assure women that they will not die. This was after the December 2019 Hyderabad’s vet doctor’s rape and murder.

This is the mentality of many. They refuse to see the problem and when they do, they try to shift blame or come up with convenient, easy solutions that benefit the perpetrator instead of the victim. And if they are people in power, the solution should be one that makes their work easier.

Also Read https://infano.care/domestic-violence-cases-see-no-end/