From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday suggested change of the name of Alia Bhatt-starer Hindi movie Gangubai Kathiawadi due for release on Friday, in view of several cases pending before courts, including one filed by Gangubai’s adopted son. It kept the case on board also on Thursday.
A Bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheshwari were hearing an appeal filed against a stay granted by the Bombay High Court on the criminal defamation case filed by Babuji Rawji Shah against film producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, actress Alia Bhatt and authors S Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges, whose novel was used to make the film.
Justice Banerjee sought the petitioner counsel’s reply if his prayer would be met with a name change and asked the film producer: “Is changing the title possible?”
The petitioner’s counsel, however, insisted on an interim stay on the release of the movie. The film producer’s senior advocate Siddhartha Dave also said a name change “would not be possible” with just a day to go before the movie is released.
The suit filed by Gangubai’s adopted son had sought an injunction against Bhansali Productions from producing, directing or airing the promo of any film based on said novel.
Advocates Arun Kumar Sinha, Rakesh Singh and Sumit Sinha appeared for the petitioner.
In real life, Gangubai hailed from Kathiawad in Gujarat. She had fled to Mumbai with her lover working in her father’s firm when she was just 16 with a dream to become an actress in Bollywood, but the lover sold her to a Mumbai brothel in Rs 500 and she rose to run her own “kotha” (brothel) in the Kamathipura area of the city as a mafia queen, with many notorious criminals as her customers. She died in Mumbai in 2008 at the age of 68.
She was a changed person in her late age, doing a lot of work for the sex workers and looking after many orphans. Actress Alia Bhatt is playing her role in the biopic.
