It’s not every day that we see a woman in charge of a narrative in Bollywood, let alone a sex worker whose profession ruthlessly meets disgusted stares, yet Gangubai Kathiawadi stands as a shining example of precisely that. 

IMDb

This powerful adaptation of S. Hussain Zaidi’s book Mafia Queens of Mumbai, helmed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, offered us many scenes that brazenly crush patriarchy to pieces, but there’s one goosebumps-inducing scene that has moved the audience, to say the least.

To put things in perspective, Gangu (Alia Bhatt) discovered her best friend in Kamli (Indira Tiwari), who felt like a bundle of joy in the gloomy brothel. 

In a heartbreaking sequence, days after giving birth to her baby, Kamli succumbed to her pain.

While the other women in the brothel were decking her up for her final journey, Gangubai made a statement that sent shivers to the spines of every viewer. She asks for Kamli’s legs to be strapped tightly because men, even with the dead, cannot be trusted. 

Twitter is sick to its stomach as Gangubai Kathiawadi, through simply one scene, has unveiled society’s most heinous facets.

It’s all the more unsettling because this sequence has depicted a raw and real issue prevailing in the society.