Gangubai Kathiawadi Review: Bhansali’s visual brilliance is magnificently carried by Alia Bhatt!
Movie: Gangubai Kathiawadi
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn, Vijay Raaz, Shantanu Maheshwari, Seema Pahwa
Rating: 4 out of 5
The biographical crime drama Gangubai Kathiawadi is based on one of Hussain Zaidi’s Mafia Queens of Mumbai chapters and is a tribute to a strong and fearless woman who rises above the filthy environment into which she is unwittingly lured.
Ganga isn’t afraid to state loudly that she is a member of the world’s oldest profession, and she is working to get legitimacy for it in a society that is willing to overlook their men’s baser tendencies in exchange for dragging their women through the muck.
Every scene of the film is packed with images and groaning under the weight of wonderfully put together sets, demonstrating Bhansali’s visual genius. The moving score and expertly choreographed dance routines all provide a sense of melancholy to the film.
Gangu, dressed in her preferred palette of white, stands out like a moon against a gloomy night sky. Alia Bhatt gives it her all, and she manages to rise above the mischievous, flighty Ganga and convert into the angst-ridden Gangubai, who becomes a political crusader and social reformer for the women of Kamathipura.
Ajay Devgn’s performance in Gangubai Kathiawadi as local don Rahim Lala, under whose protection Gangu blossoms, is particularly excellent. And so is the sultry actor-dancer Shantanu Maheshwari, who plays Afshan Razaq, a lovelorn tailor’s apprentice who falls head over heels in love with Gangu, the worldly wise. Even Vijay Raaz, who plays Gangu’s political opponent Raziabai, is tense. Jim Sarbh is a journalist for the Urdu Times and he dies his part really well.
Gangubai’s entire life, we are told at one point in the film, plays out like a cinema for someone who aspired to be on screen. Gangubai Kathiawadi is a stunning film.
