Case registered against Alia, Sanjay

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film 'Gangubai Kathiawadi', which will show the journey of a madam of a brothel in Kamathipura by the same name, landed in new trouble recently.

Babuji Rawji Shah, the son of Gangubai, had registered a case against the filmmaker, actor Alia Bhatt who will play the titular role and 'Bhansali Productions'. He also filed a case against the writer Hussain Zaidi, on whose novel 'The Mafia Queens of Mumbai' the film is based along with reporter Jane Borges, whose research was the premise of the book.

According to reports, Babuji made allegations that certain portions of the novel were defamatory and it was an infringement upon his right to privacy, self-respect and liberty. He sought permanent cessation of printing and circulation of the book, deletion of chapters pertaining to Gangubai's

life and stoppage of production of the film.

Narendra Dubey, Babuji's lawyer, said that in the coming days, they may also file a criminal complaint against the defendants for 'defamation, indecent representation of women and circulation

of obscene and indecent material'.

The first hearing was held at the Bombay civil court on December 22 and the defendants will respond to the allegations levelled against them by January 7.

'Gangubai Kathiawadi' marks Alia's first collaboration with Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It was scheduled to hit the theatres in September but got delayed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The film will now release sometime next year.