Gangubai Kathiawadi

Gangubai Kathiawadi follows a young woman named Ganga who leaves her small hometown of Kathiawad hoping to become a film star, only to be betrayed and sold into a brothel in Mumbai's Kamathipura district. Rather than accept her circumstances, she gradually asserts control over the world she was once trapped in, using connections to the underworld to become the feared and influential Gangubai, a figure who speaks for the women around her. The story draws on Hussain Zaidi's book about the mafia queens of Mumbai, and the film is set largely across the 1950s and 1960s. Alia Bhatt plays the title role, with Ajay Devgn as Rahim Lala, alongside Shantanu Maheshwari, Indira Tiwari, Seema Pahwa and Vijay Raaz.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Utkarshini Vashishtha, and produced it with Dhaval Jayantilal Gada. It arrived in 2022, following Padmaavat (2018) in his filmography. Made on a budget of about 12 million dollars, it is a crime drama running 157 minutes, released in February 2022. On IMDb it holds 7.8/10 from around 67,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.5/10 from roughly 198 votes. A critics' rating of 7/10 from 22 reviews sits between the two audience scores, suggesting a broadly positive reception across viewers and reviewers alike.