Gangubai Kothewali

Gangubai Harjeevandas (1907 – 8 September 1977), better known as Gangubai Kothewali or Gangubai Kathiawadi, was an Indian social activist, prostitute and pimp of a brothel in the Kamathipura area of Mumbai during the 1960s. Gangubai worked for the rights of sex workers and for the well-being of orphans. She gradually ended up operating her own brothel and is known to also have lobbied for the rights of commercial sex workers.

Life

She was sold into prostitution at aged 16, in 1944, by her suitor, Ramnik Lal, after running away from home to Bombay. She came to be known as the Madame of Kamathipura at aged 25 in 1953, for being an influential pimp in the city with underworld connections, peddling drugs. Later in life (presumably around 1957), she met Jawaharlal Nehru to discuss the plight of sex workers and improve their living conditions. Journalist Pamban Mu Prasanth noted in his article about her in BBC Tamil that a great deal of that is unsubstantiated.

Mafia Queens of Mumbai (2011) by Hussain Zaidi contains information on the lives of thirteen women who influenced Mumbai. In it, Zaidi also gives information about Gangubai. According to this, Gangubai was from a highly educated family and was obsessed with working in films and was a fan of Dev Anand. Gangubai, 16, and her husband Ramnik Lal, 26, fled to Mumbai and got married. Within a few days of the marriage, her husband sold her in a kuntankhana (brothel) for ₹1,000. Reluctantly, Gangubai started working as a prostitute. In a short time, Gangubai became the head of some kuntankhanas. A goon named Shaukat Khan Pathan started exploiting her financially and physically. Gangubai went to the then underworld don Karim Lala to complain about Pathan. Lala assured her of help and was tied a rakhi in return. After this, Shaukat Khan was warned and roughed-up by Lala.

Since then, Gangubai's repute as Karim Lala's supposed sister grew during the 1960s. St. Anthony's Girls' High School, which was established in Kamathipura in 1922, started a campaign to clean up the area of "bad influence". This led to an order to move the brothel. Gangubai vehemently opposed this and effectively presented her case to the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957, and as a result, the brothel was not moved.

During this time Gangubai was also working for various issues of orphans and women in the prostitution business. Gangubai counseled and sent back many young women, who had fled their homes for working in films and got stuck in prostitution. For this reason, everyone used to respectfully call Gangubai Ganga Maa (mother). After her death, her photographs and statues were erected in brothels of the area.

In popular culture

Her life was documented in the 2011 book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai, by writer and investigative journalist Hussain Zaidi.

The 2022 Indian Hindi-language film Gangubai Kathiawadi is based on the life of Gangubai Kothewali and a chapter of Zaidi's book, and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali with actress Alia Bhatt playing the titular character. The film premiered at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival and emerged as a major commercial and critical success, winning numerous accolades including five National Film Awards and eleven Filmfare Awards.