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Review: ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’: Alia steals hearts as Gangubai

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Film: ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ (Running in Theatres); Duration: 157 minutes

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Cast: Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn, Huma Qureshi, Seema Pahwa, Vijay Raaz, Jim Sarbh, Chhaya Kadam, Mitali Jagtap, Indira Tiwari, Shantanu Maheshwari

Rating: ****

Auteur Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s latest oeuvre, ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ is based on the chapter, ‘The Matriarch of Kamatipura’ from the book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai – Stories of Women from the Ganglands’ authored by S. Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges.

This is the compelling story of Ganga Harjivandas Kathiawadi, the daughter of a barrister from Kathiawar, who with stardust in her eyes, ran away from home to become an actress only to find herself sold in the brothel of Kamathipura, a neighbourhood of Mumbai famous for flesh-trade. This film unravels Ganga’s journey from a brothel worker to an activist fighting for the rights of the sex workers. In the film, Ganga calls herself “Ganga Jagjivandas Kathiawadi.”

While Ganga’s story is filled with pain and pathos, the narrative effortless makes the film appear like a sunshine film that motivates. “Gangubai mahaan nahin thi, woh shaitan bhi nahi thi,” and despite this, Bhansali brilliantly manages to portray her as a larger-than-life character, and you empathise with her when she puts forth her point of view regarding the women of her tribe.

The film is loaded with admirable performances from its ace star cast.

The film is an outright Alia Bhatt’s canvas where she delivers a flawless performance showcasing a gamut of emotions and her dancing skills with aplomb. She steals the show on several counts, be it while speaking to her mother over the phone, or headbutting with Raziabai (Vijay Raaz) the eunuch who is standing for the local elections, or flirting with the apprentice tailor Afshan Razak (Shantanu Maheshwari), or dancing during the Navratri celebrations where she delivers complex steps to an intense song in a seamlessly one lengthy shot.

It is impossible to take your eyes off Ajay Devgn who, in a significantly minor role as the principled mafia don Rahimlala is intense and intimidating all at the same time. Seema Pahwa, who as Sheelamaasi, the madam of the brothel, is fascinating. Similarly, Vijay Raaz as the eunuch Raziabai is enthralling, and Shantanu Maheshwari as Gangubai’s love interest Afshan Razak is charming.

Unfortunately, Huma Qureshi in a stage performance is wasted.

This engaging biopic contains all the tropes of a typical SLB film. Bhansali astutely manages to put his inimitable stamp into every frame of the film, which appears like poetry on the screen, emotionally expressive and attractive. The screenplay is water-tight and engaging, keeping you riveted to the screen for over two and a half hours. The dialogues full of wit and hard-hitting messages are fresh and worth mentioning. Sample this, when Razia challenges Gangubai before the election campaign, Gangubai tells her, “Tuje kyon tevar dikhaongi mein tuje din main tare dikhaongi.”

Mounted with brilliant production qualities the film is visually captivating with well-etched characters, resplendent sets, and period costumes. While the timelines in the film are ambiguous and blurred, it nevertheless captures the period from the mid-1950s to the 1960s, with film posters from that era, prominent among them being ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ and ‘Chaudhvin Ka Chand.’

The music, as usual, is exceptional but a bit low-key compared to SBL’s previous films. Two songs cater to the Garba audience, and they are both fabulously choreographed and picturised.

Overall, ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi,’ is worth watching on the big screen.

Bollywood

Ajay Devgn makes fun of his & Salman Khan dancing skills: We only do difficult steps

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Mumbai, Sep 27: Actors Ajay Devgn and Jaideep Ahlawat will be joining host Salman Khan for Bigg Boss 20’s ‘Weekend Ka Vaar’ on Sunday.

As the duo promotes their upcoming film, ‘Drishyam 3’, Ajay will be seen mocking his and Salman’s well-known dancing skills during the episode.

The promo shared by the makers on Instagram showed Ajay taking a hilarious jibe at himself and Salman while reacting to contestant Qazi Touqeer’s famous ‘Rockstar’ hook step.

As Ajay and Jaideep interacted with contestants, the ‘Raid’ actor asked Qazi to do his hook step.

When he did it, Ajay reacted by making fun of himself and host Salman. He said in a sarcastic manner, “Salman and I do very difficult steps. This one is very easy. Hence, I would like Jaideep Ahlawat to do it.”

While Jaideep refuses initially, he ends up doing the famous step at the end. Salman can be seen laughing and enjoying their fun interaction.

Reacting to the promo, one of the Insta users wrote, “Qazi bro Aura m Rockstar baby nice bro”, while another one penned, “Rockstar babyyyy auuuuuuuu.”

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Salman schooled contestant Rhiti Tiwari for crossing the line during a ‘diss’ task.

Questioning Rhiti on her language towards Qazi and Uditi Singh during a, Salman said, “Rhiti, it was the worst diss ever. You have to show respect within limits. Your language is going somewhere else.”

Not just that, Salman also reprimanded other housemates who were supporting Rhiti during the task, including Scout OP, Love Gill, Aamrapali Dubey, Aasif Khan and Young DSA.

“And everyone was laughing. Where is your sense? You were making fun of her, and she was making fun of you. Was it not your duty to stop it right there? If this diss would have been on your sister, would you have let this diss happen?”, said an angry Salman.

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Ananya Panday says ‘Happy birthday handsome’ as dad Chunky Panday turns a year older

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Mumbai, Sep 26: Actress Ananya Panday compiled an adorable birthday wish for her father, actor Chunky Panday, as he turned a year older on Saturday.

She took to the Stories section of her official Instagram handle and uploaded a throwback black-and-white picture of her father.

Wishing the ‘Housefull’ actor on his special day, Ananya wrote on the photo-sharing app, “Happy birthday handsome! Love you papa (red heart emoji) @chunkypanday (sic).”

Chunky also reshared his daughter’s post on his Instagram Stories and penned, “Annnchuuuuu”, along with red heart and love-struck emojis.

Ananya’s younger sister and Chunky’s younger daughter, Rysa Panday, also dropped an old pic of her father on social media, along with a sweet birthday wish that read, “Happy birthday to the coolest dad (sic)”, followed by a red heart emoji.

Ananya loves to share glimpses from her everyday life on social media, keeping the netizens hooked.

Recently, Ananya revealed that she was able to return home just in time to welcome her favourite, Ganpati Bappa.

Embracing the festive spirit of Ganesh Chaturthi, Ananya expressed her joy in a heartfelt post that read, “Back home just in time for my fave to come home. Ganpati Bappa Morya.”

Her post also included a couple of images posing with her parents, father Chunky Panday and mother Bhavna Pandey.

Wearing multicoloured ethnic attire, Ananya was seen standing in front of the Ganpati Bappa idol with folded hands. In another snap, the ‘CTRL’ actress was seen with one of her fur babies.

Meanwhile, on the professional front, Ananya last graced the screen in Vivek Soni’s directorial ‘Chand Mera Dil,’ co-starring Lakshya Lalwani.

The romantic entertainer chronicles the journey of two college students whose feelings for one another are put to the test as they step into adulthood and navigate the challenges and responsibilities of the real world.

‘Chand Mera Dil’ got a theatrical release on May 22 this year.

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Raza Murad slams Bollywood stars for skipping Mushtaq Khan funeral: ‘Would serve as waiters at industrialist’s son’s wedding’

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Mumbai, Sep 26: Veteran actor Raza Murad has slammed Bollywood superstars for their absence at the funeral of veteran actor Mushtaq Khan, who passed away on September 24.

In a strongly worded video message, Raza questioned why none of the “big faces” from the film industry came to offer their final respects to the actor, who had devoted nearly five decades to the Hindi film industry.

Mushtaq Khan’s last rites were performed on September 25. Many of his colleagues and fellow actors attended the funeral, but Raza expressed disappointment that no major Bollywood star was present.

“Dukh ki baat yeh hai ki aise mauke par koi bhi star, jise hum star kehte hain, unhe apna aakhiri salaam pesh karne nahi aaya. Jabki unke bahut saare colleagues, actors, sab aaye.”

(The sad thing is that on such an occasion, no star, whom we call a star, came to offer his final salute. While many of his colleagues and fellow actors came)

Raza then made a sharp comparison, saying that Bollywood stars would readily attend lavish celebrations involving influential people.

“Haan, agar kisi industrialist ke bete ki shaadi hoti, toh ye stars na sirf wahan shaamil hote, balki wahan mehmaanon ki seva waiter ki tarah bhi karte.”

(Yes, if the son of an industrialist were getting married, these stars would not only attend, but would also serve the guests like waiters.)

“Ya jab koi political party apni laathi dikhaati hai, toh ye bheegi billi ki tarah wahan pahunch jaate hain. Lekin us shakhs ki funeral mein shaamil nahi hue, jisne is film industry ko apne 50 saal diye, apni poori zindagi de di. Aur aap uske liye 50 minute bhi nahi nikaal sake.”

(Or when a political party shows its power, they reach there like a meek cat. But they did not attend the funeral of the person who gave 50 years of his life, his entire life, to this film industry And you could not even take out 50 minutes for him)

He reminded the film fraternity that fame and success are temporary and that a person’s conduct and deeds are what ultimately matter.

“Yeh mat bhooliye ki aaj aapka yeh roshan chehra hai, kal yeh bhi marne wala hai. Kal yeh andhere mein doob jayega. Agar koi cheez aapke kaam aayegi, toh aapka achha bartav, aapke karm kaam aayenge. Aur kuch nahi aayega.”

(Do not forget that today your face is shining, but tomorrow it too will die. Tomorrow it will sink into darkness. If anything will be of use to you, it will be your good behaviour and your deeds. Nothing else will matter)

Praising Mushtaq Khan, Raza said the actor had built his own identity through his work and had never relied on flattery or misleading others to make his way in the industry.

“Mushtaq Khan ne apna bahut bada naam banaya. Unhone kabhi kisi ko gumrah nahi kiya, na kabhi kisi ki khushamad ki. Woh sirf apne kaam ke dum par yahan tak pahunche.”

(Mushtaq Khan made a very big name for himself. He never misled anyone, nor did he flatter anyone. He reached this point solely on the strength of his work.)

“Unhe apni zindagi mein kabhi aapki zaroorat nahi padi, na unhe apni zindagi ke baad aapki zaroorat padegi.”

(He never needed you in his life, nor will he need you after his life.)

He also expressed regret that several prominent stars who had worked with Khan did not come to pay their final respects.

“Haan, yeh zaroor hum sabke liye afsos ki baat hai ki aisa koi star nahi hai jiske saath Mushtaq Khan ne kaam na kiya ho, aur woh unhe kuch pal ke liye salaam karne bhi nahi aaya.”

(Yes, it is certainly a matter of regret for all of us that there is hardly any star with whom Mushtaq Khan had not worked, yet they did not come even for a few moments to salute him.)

Raza concluded by reminding everyone that fame, wealth and status do not last forever.

“Yaad rakhiye ek baat, yeh shohrat, yeh daulat, yeh izzat hamesha nahi rehti. Shohrat ki bulandi bhi ek lamhe ka tamasha hai. Jis shaakh par aap baithe hain, woh bhi toot sakti hai. Yaad rakhiye.”

(Remember one thing, this fame, this wealth and this honour do not last forever. The height of fame is also a spectacle of a moment. The branch on which you are sitting can also break. Remember this.)

For the uninitiated, Mushtaq Khan was known for his memorable supporting performances across Hindi cinema, with credits including Welcome, Aashiqui, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke and Jodi No. 1.

His long career spanned several decades, during which he worked alongside some of the biggest names in the Hindi film industry like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor, and others.

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