PIL in HC seek to drop terms ‘Kamathipura’ & ‘Kathiawadi’

Mumbai: The Bombay high court is scheduled to hear at least two petitions — one by

Kamathipura MLA Amin Patel

and the other by a local resident Shraddha Surve, 37, a homemaker — against use of terms ‘Kamathipura’ and ‘Kathiawadi’ in the film “Gangubai Kathiawadi”.

While Patel filed a PIL through his counsel Dhruti Kapadia seeking an urgent hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice

MS Karnik

, Surve filed a writ petition which was mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench of Justices

Gautam Patel

and

Madhav Jamdar

on Tuesday.

Patel is seeking a disclaimer in the film clarifying that entire Kamathipura is not a red-light zone, and claims that the film title is hurting the sentiments of its residents. His plea is to remove references to words ‘Kathiawadi’ and ‘Kamathipura’ from the film.

The petition by Surve through advocate Amol Surve said she was “aggrieved” that the name of her locality was “being lowered”. She said both the Central Board of Film Certification and film producers Bhansali Productions “neglected” renaming “Kamathipura”, an area in city where some parts of the movie were shot. She alleged use of ‘Kamathipura’ has shown “disrespect towards the area and its residents”.

The movie will be released on February 25, 2022.