Jagran Explainer: How Ganga Harjivandas became Gangubai Kathiawadi

Mumbai | Jagran Entertainment Desk: Crime is jucier than spirituality and guns are more attractive than roses. This is how acclaimed writer S. Hussain Zaidi begins his bestselling book ‘The Mafia Queens of Mumbai’, whose most striking chapter tells the story of Ganga Harjivandas of Gujarat's Kathiawad, who later became one of the mafia queens of Mumbai as Gangubai Kathiawadi.

Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Hindi Cinema's top magnum opus creator, is reported to have adapted Gangubai Kathiawadi segment of Zaidi's book. The titular role is played by Alia Bhatt and the film's trailer has opened to grand reception on social media. But as is the trend with all Bhansali creations since ‘Goliyon ki rasleela Ram Leela’ (2013), ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ too has taken a controversial turn into its scheme of things before its scheduled theatrical release on February 25.

Gangubai's family's lawyer said recently that her adopted children had moved to court in 2020 when the first promo of the Alia Bhatt-starrer came out. A case seeking a stay on Gangubai Kathiawadi's release is now pending in the Supreme Court and the family hopes it is heard before the release of the film.

Who was Ganga Harjivandas?

Ganga Harjivandas was born in 1939 in Kathiawad, Gujarat in an affluent business family. Since childhood, she nurtured the dream of becoming an actress and moving to Mumbai. At the age of 16 she fell in love with Ramnik Lal, her father’s accountant, with whom she eloped to Bombay. where they married and Ganga hoped to make it big in Bombay's film industry.

Her husband conned her and sold her to a brothel for Rs 500. Her life as Gangubai started in the brothels of Kamathipura, one of the biggest red light areas in Mumbai.

In the 1950s, Karim Lala, Haji Mastan and Varadharajan were the three most prominent gangsters of the Mumbai underworld. The area of Kamathipura fell under Karim Lala. Many of Lala’s men were customers in Kamathipura’s brothels.

In one incident, one of Karim Lala’s men sexually assaulted Gangubai, who then reached Karim Lala to seek justice. According to S. Hussain Zaidi's book Gangubai said to Lala, “I might be a prostitute but I am not an object that people can use whenever they feel like. Because of that man I had to be hospitalised. He was very brutal to me.”

She tied a rakhi around Lala’s wrist and sought his protection.

Under the patronage of Karim Lala, Gangubai Kathiawadi excelled in fulfilling her ambitions. She became powerful with strong underworld connections, ran a drug-procurement network, and even ordered murders.

"Under tutelage of her rakhi brother, she began to develop strong ties with Nagpada police station and the underworld," Zaidi writes.

Gangubai came to be known as the Madam of Kamathipura and there is even a statue of her in the area. She ran brothels but she is reported to have never forced women into the trade. Gangubai died in 2008 at the age of 68. The walls of Kamathipura are still adorned with her photos.

Alia Bhatt, Vijay Raaz, Ajay Devgn-starrer 'Gangubai Kathiawadi' is scheduled to release on February 25.