1 Bollywood? Brothel.

Prostitution is the oldest profession in history — supply of women is cheap and demand for is endless — therefore, women have been the perfect black market commodity throughout history. Gangubai Kathiawadi is a Bollywood movie that depicts prostitution through the life of Ganga Harjeevandas, a victim of sex trafficking who eventually became one of the most powerful “Madams” in Kamathipura (the red-light district of Mumbai). The movie itself was based upon a chapter of the book “Mafia Queens of Mumbai,” and in this paper, I will compare the fictionalized account of her and Kamathipura in the movie to the non-fictional source material. Although the film takes some creative liberties, the crux of both sources is that her story is an example of how victims can build up immense power (social, political, and personal) both within and outside a black market system by leveraging connections, relationships, and the loyalty of other victims.

It is not Ganga Harjeevendas , the innocent barrister’s daughter, that the audience meets first — it is Gangubai, the ruthless brothel madam that Ganga grew up to be. Rashmibai, a fellow madam, calls in Gangubai to deal with Madhu, a young girl who is refusing to be a willing participant in sexual activities[1]. Madhu tells her story to Gangubai, who realizes that their stories are deeply intertwined and as Madhu shares her story the audience is transported back to a time when Gangubai was still Ganga. Ganga had dreams of becoming a Bollywood star and was deeply in love with a man named Ramnik Laal[2]. When he told Ganga that his aunt had scored her a role in a Bollywood film, Ganga didn’t think twice before taking her mother’s jewelry and eloping with him[3]. She, however, did not know that Ramnik was not taking her to Bollywoodn — rather he was taking her to a brothel. Ramnik Laal sold Ganga to his aunt Sheela’s brothel for between 500 and 1000 INR[4] or the cost of one large pepperoni pizza/3 gallons of gas. Her dream shattered into an inescapable nightmare.

Ganga had no choice but to stay in Kamathipura — if she went back home, she would bring further shame on her family and ruin her sisters’ marriage prospects. Seeing no other option, she began working as a prostitute and quickly became known for her talents in bed. Ramnik’s betrayal had left her sullied and impure. His actions had affected her izzat, and no conversation about women in India is complete without discussing izzat and the larger role it plays in society. Izzat refers to familial honor- izzat is a “learnt, complex set of rules an Asian individual follows in order to protect the family honor and keep his/her position in the community”[5]. Girls are expected to stay modest and untouched (essentially virgins) to protect the family’s izzat, and Ganga becoming a prostitute despite the fact that it was forced upon her was an unwashable stain on her izzat and her family’s standing in society.[6] The pain caused by the shame Ganga had burdened her family with was something she bore for the rest of her life.

Ganga wanted to rid herself of as many reminders of her old life as she could due to the emotional pain caused by Ramnik’s betrayal, so she choose to start going by Gangu[7]. The name Ganga refers to the Ganga River (the Ganges) which is the holiest river in the Hindu culture. It is a powerful name for a girl in society, but entirely contridicatary with her profession of prostitution. She chose to start going by Gangu because it represented what her life had become and what it represented. Gangu is the derogatory derivative of Gangu — it refers to something dirty and tarnished. Ganga led a privileged, holy life, while Gangu led a difficult and stained life. Ultimately, the innocent barrister’s daughter was no more.

Clients would come from far and wide for Gangu, but no client was as notorious as Shaukat Khan. Shaukat Khan (The Pathan) was brutal with Gangu, paying her nothing and leaving her hospitalized[8]. It was expected that she endure this silently; however, Gangu wanted revenge. Shaukat Khan was associated with Don Karim Lala’s gang of Pathans. Despite being one of the most powerful mob bosses in Bombay, Lala was a religious man and was known for being respectful towards women. Upon hearing what happened to Gangu, Lala became enraged that one of his gangsters had done this and promised Gangu that Lala himself would come and stop Khan the next time he came to Kamathipura[9]. Gangu was so thankful for Lala’s promise that she embraced him and called him her brother (in the book she even tied a rakhi) which he accepted[10].

Tying a rakhi is an important tradition in Indian culture — traditionally a sister ties a rope bracelet (a rakhi) on their brother’s wrist during the festival of Raksha Bandhan; however, the meaning of the bracelet stays the same regardless of when it is tied. It symbolizes a sister’s love, best wishes, and prayers for her brother. In return, the brother “vows to protect sisters under all circumstances.”[11] This is not a promise taken lightly, and for most Indians regardless of religious affiliation, this is a sacred custom. In tying the rakhi on Lala’s wrist, Gangu publicly announced him as her chosen brother under God, and no one in society could dispute that now.

Gangu’s brotherhood with Lala slowly became the most important relationship in her life. This relationship was a pillar upon which she built her power in Kamathipura. After knowing that Lala was her rakhi-bound brother, Gangu began receiving special treatment in Kamathipura. The book references this relationship by saying that the fear of offending Don Lala ensured that no one was able to take advantage of her, including the madam of her brother, Sheela Maasi[12]. Both the book and the movie explain how he helped her develop strong ties to the local police and members of the underworld. The movie goes into more detail about just how connected her rise into power was to Karim Lala. Lala controlled the sale of alcohol in most of the city during Prohibition-Era India including the brothels. Gangu, who had become the leader of her brothel after the death of Sheela Maasi, realized that the brothels themselves could be making much higher revenue if alcohol could be sold inside: the clients would come for the drinks and stay for the women. She convinced Karim Lala to let her join his alcohol “business” and he agreed to let her control the sale of alcohol in Kamathipura along with a 20% cut of the profits[13]. The relationship she had built with Lala allowed her to line her pockets and become one of the richest women in Kamathipura, and with that money came the ability to gain power.

When the time of elections for President of Kamathipura arrived, Gangu was convinced to be a candidate by the other girls in her brothel. Her fellow victims, the second pillar in her rise to power, believed that she was the only one who would understand their plight and fight for them[14]. Gangu agreed and launched a campaign that would change her and her fellow victims’ destinies forever. The book doesn’t describe her campaign in much detail other than to say it was no surprise that she won, however,, the movie portrays it differently. It creates a battle of the ages between Gangu and Raziabai, the incumbent President of Kamathipura. Karim Lala helps Gangu considerably in terms of funding and advice, and Gangu also uses previous clients of her brothel to get ahead. However, the most impactful decision that Gangu makes is to portray herself as benevolent towards victims of childhood sex trafficking being forced to become prostitutes in Kamathipura. Gangu chooses to free Madhu[15], the young girl at Rashmibai’s brothel and employs her network of prostitutes, servants, and police to spread the word about this act. She bought the sympathy of her base, mostly fellow victims, and showed them that she understood their trauma and would fight for their interests. The victims of Kamathipura won her the election, and thus Gangu became Gangubai, President of Kamathipura.

Most of the prostitutes mentioned in this essay were victims of sex trafficking- an integral part of the functioning of Mumbai’s red light district, Kamathipura. Even today, around 95% of prostitutes in Kamathipura are victims of sex trafficking and this is line with historical averages.[16] “Trafficking in persons” is  defined by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as:

[…]the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation,[…][17]

Ganga’s case easily met the definition of trafficking as she was recruited through deception for the purpose of prostitution. Although what Ramnik did to her was a clear violation of her human rights and immoral, it was not illegal. In the eyes of Colonial Indian Law, he was no criminal. Ganga, however, now existed outside of the law. Prostitution was neither illegal nor legal- the state was actively pretending that it did not exist. Brothels themselves were illegal though and one can see how that may cause a slight conundrum.

Prostitutes like Ganga and their children were stigmatized, denied access to education, and faced difficulties finding adequate healthcare while the brothels they lived in were often subject to police raids[18]. Brothels in Kamathipura had extremely high disease rates — HIV, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases were very common. Multiple girls that are introduced in the film end up dying of tuberculosis, including Gangu’s best friend Kamli. Denying access to education, especially to the innocent children of the brother, created a cycle of poverty and dependency in Kamathipura. If a girl from Kamathipura cannot get an education and does not have a husband to take her away (which she won’t because what self-respecting family will let their son marry a prostitute’s daughter) what option does she have other than following in the family business and becoming a prostitute? The police raids often ended in rape and the general discomfort of the women in the brothel — imagine your home being violently ransacked by the police without warning throughout the year. It disturbed the peace and left the women violently shaken. These women faced challenges in every aspect of their lives, and only survived due to the community they built around themselves and their children.

This manifested in the third pillar of Gangubai’s reign over Kamathipura — the connections that she had among the community. A convent school (St. Anthony’s Girls’ School) that shared part of a street with Kamathipura started a movement to evacuate the brothels because they believed that sex workers “could have a negative influence on the mind of young students”[19]. The book explains how Gangubai spearheaded the movement against evacuation by using her political connections to score a meeting with the then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru[20] in a clinical fashion. The movie, however, spends considerable time on the subject of evacuation and the emotional ramifications it had on Gangubai’s own life while effectively using it as an example to demonstrate how Gangubai leveraged the connections she had to advance her cause upward into society.

In the film, Gangubai is met with protests from the samaj (or society) and religious leaders from the school outside her door. She takes some of the children of her brothel with her to a meeting with the priest in charge of St. Anthony’s and explains to him how the protests outside are driving away her customers[21]. She then demands that “her” children be given admission into the school because they too have a right to education, and offers seven years of school fees upfront. This impresses Hamid Fezi, a journalist who is in the room during the meeting, and he attempts to get an interview with Gangubai[22]. Through a series of interviews, he learns Gangubai’s story and when they discover that the children were spat on and beaten by their teacher at St. Anthony’s[23], Fezi publishes an article sympathetic to her cause that goes moderately viral. He is then able to score her an invitation to speak at a women’s empowerment conference at Azad Maidan, where Gangubai gave a memorable speech in support of red light districts and legalizing sex work[24].

This speech makes her well-known outside of Kamathipura to local politicians who realize that she could win their elections through her connections to the underworld. Gangubai is willing to help these politicians if they are willing to advocate for her cause and the cause of all of the residents of Kamathipura and one of these politicians is able to arrange a meeting between Gangubai and the Prime Minister surrounding the rights of sex workers[25]. Gangubai used the connections she had to get her foot in the door and, once in the room, she convinced the Prime Minister to consider legalizing sex work and to pressure the Supreme Court into dismissing the evacuation order in Kamathipura[26].

“Mafia Queens of Mumbai” is a clinical but short look into Gangubai’s life. She is only a singular chapter in a book about the women who played the game of black markets in Mumbai, which doesn’t allow the author to study the true psychological side of the story. The book acts as brilliant source material for the movie, but leaves plenty of room for Bhansali, the film’s director, to bring in emotion that cannot be portrayed as effectively on a page versus the big screen. One massive difference between the two stories is the final theme they attempt to present to the audience regarding victory. The book describes Gangubai’s story as “victim to victor,” wanting to show that Gangubai fought her way out of horrible circumstances into becoming one of the most powerful black market bosses in Mumbai. It wants to leave the reader believing that Gangubai won, that Ganga becoming Gangubai represents victory.

The movie, however, chooses to show the audience that despite the power and influence Ganga gained by becoming Gangubai, she never believed that she was a victor. This is shown through the loss of her closest friend Kamli[27], Gangu refusing to marry Afsan[28], the only man after Ramnik she loved, and the continued rejection by Gangubai’s mother more than a decade after she had “eloped”[29]. She chose to live with that heartbreak and loss because even after all of the power she had gained, she could not bring back the dreams and innocence that Ramnik had taken from her. She chose to help young girls who were trafficked into Kamathipura by men they had known and loved by giving them a choice in their own destiny, knowing that doing so would never bring her own choice back. Gangubai in the movie knew that there are no victors in the world of pimps and prostitutes. Everything that she did to get ahead was to save herself and the other women of Kamathipura from further pain and abuse at the hands of the madames. Power was not victory to her, it was survival.

In reality, I assume neither was a truly accurate portrayal of Gangubai. There are not enough credible accounts of her life to prove either the book or the movie correct, and I believe that makes her compelling to various creatives whether it be Zaidi, the author, or Bhansali, the director. They could impart their own styles upon her story and mold it into the themes they wanted to portray to their audience. Zaidi chose to share stories of people he believed to be victors, and he presents Gangubai’s story in a way that falls in line with that. Bhansali is known for his tragedies such as Devdas, Bajirao Mastani, and Padmavaat. His work on Gangubai Kathiawadi was no different- he created a film where there were no clear victors or villains, just different characters doing whatever it takes to survive. Ultimately, both Zaidi and Bhansali used Gangubai’s story to achieve their own ends, and therefore it is up to the audience to choose which version they find more compelling. Don’t think that Gangubai didn’t use them back though — it is her name that will be immortalized through these depictions after all.

Gangubai became a living legend in Kamathipura- she was revered by prostitutes as Ganguma (Mother Gangu). This reverence continues into present times and most of the remaining brothels and homes in Kamathipura still have a framed picture of Gangubai somewhere on the property [30]. She built an empire out of nothing using her relationship with Karim Lala, the bond shared with her fellow victims, and her connections with local politicians and journalists. The story of Gangubai is one of immense pain and tragedy, however to many who share her plight, it is one of a phoenix rising from the ashes of stolen dreams.

Works Cited

Zaidi, S. H., & Borges, J. (2011). Mafia queens of Mumbai: Stories of women from the ganglands. Tranquebar Press.

Netflix. (2022). Gangubai Kathiawadi. Netflix. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.netflix.com/watch/81280352?trackId=14170287&tctx=2%2C0%2Cee933585-0d4f-434f-bf8a-730ce9cff0e6-7503215%2CNES_1CD5A94997073F9EF16A992680333C-994911DC4F528C-E7895B6C64_p_1668038410828%2CNES_1CD5A94997073F9EF16A992680333C_p_1668038410828%2C%2C%2C%2C.

The unheard voices of Sex Workers in India: A qualitative study on the … (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/80448/RoxannePereira2021.pdf?sequence=3

Human rights and human trafficking – office of the united nations high … OHCHR. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Publications/FS36_en.pdf

Protocol to prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. OHCHR. (n.d.). Retrieved November 9, 2022, from https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/protocol-prevent-suppress-and-punish-trafficking-persons

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED401170.pdf