When the latest victim of the torturous taming process at a brothel explains that she was the joru (wife) of the man who sold her, Gangubai sneers, ‘jagat joru’. This is the place where a woman is the universal wife, available to all.
It’s a familiar story. One that saw gullible Ganga from Kathiawar become Gangubai of Kamathipura. Feared and admired, tough and tender. Spunk and smarts helped her make the most of a dreaded situation, boosted her to the top of her game and transformed her into the voice of the sex worker.
Championing their many causes, including the right to education for their children, Gangubai ultimately becomes the voice of equality-seeking women, getting an audience even with the Prime Minister of India.
Ganga, the daughter of a well-to-do barrister, had to be spirited to have run away to Mumbai dazzled by the bait of a break opposite Dev Anand. But even when a sadist is let loose on her to straighten her out, cleverness combines with confidence to turn adversity into advantage.
Taking off from the true-life story of Gangubai Harjivandas who ruled the red-light area of Mumbai and was chronicled by S Hussain Zaidi in his book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai, Sanjay Leela Bhansali picks up the heavy premise and pulls off a tough assignment. That of creating pathos for the pathetic but using performances, punchlines, the vibrance of dance and the tugs of romance and heartbreak to serve an overwhelmingly complete experience. Applause, amusement and ache. It’s all there.
Energy in visuals, dance and music, heart tugs in romance and bonds – some lost, some everlasting –drama in dialogues and situations, and women in control, come with the territory when Bhansali’s in charge. He’s aided ably by fellow writers Utkarshini Vashishtha and Prakash Kapadia.
The dialogues tease and bite. Describing the varieties of the colour white in an overture to romance, punctuating a vote-seeking minister’s spiel with loud calls for sherbet, uninhibitedly remarking to a besotted young man, ‘Nanga main hoon, geela tu ho raha hai’, a phone call to her mother with the ‘30 second’ outburst, or commenting, ‘Taange kaske baandho’ when a prostitute’s body is being wrapped up, take turns to make statements, bring a lump to the throat and elicit more than a chuckle.
The drama never ceases. Her first meeting with Rahimbhai (Karim Lala played by Ajay Devgn) where he says, “Bhai samajh ke rakh le,” sets an emotional tone – Gangubai finally having someone who has her back. Her hurling a spirited street-level gaali at her abuser, common chords and yearnings shared by the sex workers like the letter to a father, or visuals like candlelight soliciting in the red-light area, keep the mixed package of moments coming at full speed.
With a gold tooth for effect and a white saree draped around her, Gangubai stepping into politics by taking on Raziabai (Vijay Raaz), the ruling President of Kamathipura, is typically brazen and brave with the sharpness to do what she dares. When Raziabai boasts, ‘Razia ko harana aur kothe mein doli laana, namumkin hai,’ Gangubai does both, placing a stone over her heart to pull off the latter.
But under all that feistiness and feminine power, there is a pervading sense of sadness that never goes away. Credit some of it to cinematographer Sudeep Chatterjee too.
Bhansali’s master touch is all over the romance, music and dance. A Romeo & Juliet style sequence, she in the balcony, he on the road below but completely Kamathipura in flavour, has ‘Jab saiyan’ heightening the closeness. There’s another with ‘Meri jaan’ inside a car. Both sequences find Gangu literally holding the better cards, the upper hand in the relationship with Afsaan, the young tailor (Shantanu Maheshwari measuring up neatly).
With every volley, it is advantage Alia as her fragile frame gives her the required vulnerability while the powerhouse in her keeps leaping up to win one set after the other. Among her best is ‘Dolida’ where Alia plays with a pot-pourri of expressions without missing a step.
Making an impact are also Ajay Devgn, Seema Pahwa (as Sheela Maasi, the brothel keeper) and Vijay Raaz.
But it’s not a high five all the way. For one, the speeches by Gangubai on empowerment of sex workers and women in general gets to be weary.
There are far too many issues rolling out one after the other with the viewing time lengthening tiresomely. For instance, the whole episode of sex worker Kamli (Indira Tiwari) wanting a kid, falling ill and what follows, could’ve been dispensed with, without making the slightest difference to the narration.
There is something called overkill.
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Gangubai Kathiawadi Trailer:
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