When the trailer of Alia Bhatt starrer ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ was released in February, many filmmakers hailed the actor for giving one of her best performances till date in this Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial film that is based on the life of a Mumbai-based brothel owner by the same name.

The film is based on the book The Mafia Queens of Mumbai, written by Hussain Zaidi with original research by reporter Jane Borges.

However, soon the film landed into legal trouble after real-life Gangubai Kathiawadi’ son Babuji Rawji Shah filed a defamation suit against Bhansali, Alia, Bhansali Productions, Zaidi, and Borges.

Shah, one of the four kids adopted by Gangubai, claimed that certain chapters from ‘The Mafia Queens of Mumbai’ were ‘defamatory and tarnished her (Gangubai’s) reputation’. While he demanded that the film’s production be halted, he also claimed that the book infringed upon the right to privacy and self-respect of his purported deceased mother.

Shah also filed a petition in a Mumbai civil court, seeking a restraining order against the film and its trailers, but it was rejected

According to the latest reports, Alia, Bhansali, and Zaidi have been asked to present themselves before the court o May 21 in the defamation suit filed by Shah.

This is not the first time, the film that is scheduled to hit the screens on July 30 has got into news.

The film was in the title row before when politician Amin Patel told PTI that “It is not the same like it was in the 1950s. Women there are excelling in different professions. The film’s title also maligns the name of Kathiawad city. The name of the film should be changed.” He had also urged the state government to intervene in the matter.

The film’s shoot was also stalled when Bhansali was tested COVID-19 positive. Before this, the film’s shoot had been put on hold due to the lockdown and the elaborate sets of Kamathipura, erected at Filmcity, stood idle for months.