SC rejects plea seeking stay on release of Alia Bhatt's Gangubai Kathiawadi

The Supreme Court on Thursday (February 24) refused to entertain a plea seeking a stay on the release of the Bollywood movie Gangubai Kathiawadi. The Alia Bhatt-starrer, produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bhansali Production Private Ltd, is scheduled for release on Friday. A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and J K Maheswari dismissed the plea of Babuji Rawji Shah, who claims to be the adopted son of Gangubai, against the Bombay High Court's order declining him various reliefs such as an interim stay on the release of the movie. "SLP dismissed. Reasons to follow," the bench said.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court suggested the makers change the name of the movie against the backdrop of the several cases against it pending before courts. 

The Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed film, based on a chapter from writer S Hussain Zaidi's book



Mafia Queens of Mumbai, features Alia as Gangubai, one of the most powerful madams from Kamathipura during the 1960s. Ahead of the film's release, the makers have been facing legal hurdles. As many as three petitions were filed in court that objected to the use of the area's (Kamathipura) name in the movie claiming it shows the place in a bad light which may besmirch and defame the residents there. However, the Bombay High Court dismissed all the pleas against the film and cleared it to release in cinema halls as per the scheduled date. 

The biographical crime drama is based on the story of a maiden sold by a suitor into prostitution and how she became a prominent figure in the underworld and Kamathipua red-light district. The film also stars Ajay Devgn, Vijay Raaz, Shantanu Maheshwari, Seema Bhargava Pahwa, Indira Tiwari and Varun Kapoor in supporting roles.