The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking a stay on the release of the Bollywood movie Gangubai Kathiawadi. The Alia Bhatt starrer film produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Bhansali Production Private Ltd is scheduled for release on Friday.
A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK 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 interim stay on the release of the movie.
At the outset, senior advocate A Sundaram, appearing for the filmmakers, told the bench that it would practically not be possible to change the name of the movie, as suggested by the court, as they will have to go to the censor board again for this. He submitted that there cannot be any objection to the naming of the film as a censor certificate has been given to the movie. He questioned the locus of the petitioner and said that Shah claims to be the adopted son of Gangubai without evidence.
“There is no basis for adoption. A person is claiming to be the adopted son and there’s no prima facie evidence. He is a third party and he has only shown a ration card to prove his claim. Not even a whisper of proof of the same apart from ration card,” Sundaram said.
The senior lawyer further said that nothing prima facie has been shown to the court to prove there is anything defamatory in the movie.
Sundaram said the entire case is premised on a book based on 2011 which they didn’t consider challenging at that time. “The book was “The Mafia Queens of Bombay”. Our film glorifies the lady as to what she has accomplished,” he said.
There are judgments to show that the right of defamation dies with a person’s death, Sundaram said.
“When I produce a film of a public figure who died 40 years ago, we are trying to show how great a lady she was. I am praising her more if she lived in a red light area and achieved great height,” he submitted. The bench then asked, “What if there are sensibilities in the family?” Sundaram replied that they are not family.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, also appearing for the filmmakers, contended that the movie is not derogatory at all and the character Gangubai has been glorified as to how she rose from a background and became an activist.
