“Kehte hain Kamathipura mein kabhi amavas ki raat nahi hoti, kyunki wahan Gangu rehti hai…” - Gangubai Kathiawadi

Gangubai belonged to the Kathiawad area of Gujarat. In the hope of becoming a famous actress, she ran away from her home to Mumbai with her boyfriend, Ramnik Lal. She took a briefcase filled with money and jewelry along with her. Little did she know that Ramnik was planning something else. He promised to give her a role in a film alongside Dev Anand but instead took her to a brothel in Kamathipura and sold her for one thousand rupees. She lived a life that was far away from what she had planned.

Far away from what she had planned, her life was limited to the four walls of the brothel. These challenging circumstances turned her into one of the most influential pimps in Kamathipura. When she was forced into the profession of prostitution, little did she know of the future that was waiting for her. When the pimp of her brothel died, all the other prostitutes requested Gangu to be the next pimp of the brothel. She not only empathized with other girls in the brothel, but also \had connections with some of the most dangerous mafia organizations in Mumbai. These dangerous connections of Gangu, too, have a story behind them.

Shaukat Khan Pathan, a thug, began exploiting her financially and physically. Gangubai complained to then-underworld don Karim Lala about Pathan. In exchange for her assurances, Gangu tied a rakhi on Shaukat Ali's wrist. Lala then reprimanded and beat Shaukat Khan. Gangubai's fame as Karim Lala's claimed sister grew in the 1960s.

St. Anthony's Girls' High School, which opened in Kamathipura in 1922, began an effort to rid the neighborhood of evil influences. The brothel was forced to relocate as a result. Gangubai fiercely opposed this decision by organizing protests and giving speeches in the public, and after successfully presenting her point to then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the brothel was not relocated.

Gangubai was also acting on behalf of infants and women in the prostitution profession. Gangubai advised and asked many young females to return who had left their homes to work in films and been stuck in prostitution. Despite all the difficult circumstances, she had a soft spot for the other women sold into prostitution illegally. She was like a mother to them, and to date, one can see her pictures adorned on the walls of brothel houses in Kamathipura. As a result, Gangubai became known as Ganga Maa.

Her battle with a prominent gang member of one of Mumbai's most dreaded gangs for raping one of her brothel's females is one of the most infamous events.

This was the account of a woman who was subjected to such heinous treatment at the hands of others. But her life takes an unexpected turn when she chooses to fight a war against the system and for the betterment of sex workers and orphans. Her life story is an example of how to transform your negatives into positives for others.