Box office Gangubai Kathiawadi earned at the domestic box office on its opening day. On the second day, the film collected . On the third day, the film collected , taking total domestic weekend collection to .
Bollywood Hungama and
Box Office India stated that the film's box-office verdict of a "hit".
Critical response Gangubai Kathiawadi received critical acclaim with major praise directed towards the performances (particularly Bhatt, Raaz, Maheshwari, Devgn and Pahwa), music, production design, cinematography, storyline and Bhansali's direction. On the
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91% based on 22 reviews and an
average rating of 7/10. Sushri Sahu of
Mashable gave the film a rating of four and a half out of five stars and wrote "Sanjay Leela Bhansali's
Gangubai Kathiawadi starring Alia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn and others is an absolute crowd-puller. Mugdha Kapoor Safaya of
DNA India gave the film a rating of four out of five stars and wrote "The film's narrative is such that you will empathise with Gangu, root for her and cheer for her with every small victory but never pity her." Jagadish Angadi of
Deccan Herald gave the film a rating of four out of five stars and wrote "Alia Bhatt as Gangubai is exceptionally brilliant. The linear storytelling effectively highlights multiple conflicts of Gangubai. Wendy Ide of
The Observer gave the film a rating of four out of five stars and wrote "The hard-hitting story of a sex worker who rises through the ranks of 60s gangland
Mumbai is powered by a magnetic performance from Alia Bhatt". Ronak Kotecha of
The Times of India gave a rating of three and a half out of five stars and wrote "With whatever is packed into this drama, there are enough moments that will draw you into this world where nights seem endless and the lights never fade."
Saibal Chatterjee of
NDTV gave the film a rating of three and a half out of five stars and wrote "The visually sumptuous character study, more baroque than 1950s Bombay, is at once sweeping and intimate". Tushar Joshi of
India Today gave a rating of three and a half out of five stars and wrote "
Gangubai Kathiawadi's camera work, background score and dialogues are the three pillars that take it from being just another gutsy biopic to a film that creates a massive impact. Gangubai is a solid risk for both Bhansali and Alia. A risk that pays off beautifully for both the director and his muse". Prathap Nair of
Firstpost gave a rating of three and a half out of five stars and wrote "Written by Bhansali and
Utkarshini Vashishtha, it flips the narrative by handing out extraordinary concessions to the female lead at its heart, not entirely a frequent occurrence in
Bollywood".
Bollywood Hungama gave the film a rating of three and a half out of five stars, writing: "The Alia Bhatt-starrer
Gangubai Kathiawadi is a powerful saga and is embellished with terrific moments and a career best performance by Alia Bhatt. At the box office, it has bright chances to score with the multiplex and female audiences".
Stutee Ghosh of
The Quint gave the film a rating of three and a half out of five stars and wrote "
Gangubai Kathiawadi is a Sanjay Leela Bhansali canvas and a complete Alia Bhatt show".
Sukanya Verma of
Rediff gave the film a rating of three and a half out of five stars and wrote "Something in Alia has surely changed after
Gangubai. Her entire performance is about proving to herself and not to the world what she can do, feels Sukanya Verma". Sanjana Jadhav of
Pinkvilla gave the film a rating of three and a half out of five stars and wrote "Alia Bhatt and the cast performances, Bhansali's visuals and a sneak peek into this brutal world makes it a definite watch". Devesh Sharma of
Filmfare gave the film a rating of three and a half out of five stars and wrote "SLB has again given us a film which keeps us glued to our seats for close to three hours".
Shubhra Gupta of
The Indian Express gave the film a rating of three out of five stars, writing, "Sanjay Leela Bhansali's latest is the kind of old-fashioned dialogue-heavy, sentiment-on-sleeve film which Bollywood is forgetting how to make". Monika Rawal Kukreja of
Hindustan Times wrote "Alia Bhatt...has given a superlative performance as Gangubai". Anuj Kumar of
The Hindu wrote "This is easily Bhansali at his best as he has been able to marry craft with content; here, he attempts a
Pakeezah for the millennials and almost succeeds". Sonia Dedhia of
News18 wrote "Alia Bhatt practically disappears into the character of Gangubai Kathiawadi. There's a hard-to-miss intensity in her eyes, and tenacity in her voice".
Year-end lists The Guardian featured Alia Bhatt's portrayal in their listing of the best big-screen performances of all time.
Mark Kermode of
The Guardian listed Bhatt's performance in the film as one of the ten best performances of 2022. Subhash K. Jha of
Times of India listed Bhatt's performance in the film among the top five acclaimed female performances of 2022.
Sukanya Verma of
Rediff listed Bhatt as one of the top female performers of 2022. Sanyukta Thakare of
Mashable listed Bhatt as one of the top female performers of the year. Santanu Das of
Hindustan Times listed Bhatt's performance in the film as one of the best Indian film performances of 2022. Sakshi of
News24 listed Bhatt's performance in the film as one of the best Indian film performances of 2022. Ananya Jain of
Indiatimes listed Bhatt's performance in the film as one of the best Indian film performances of 2022. ''
Man's World'' staff listed Bhatt's performance in the film as one of the best Bollywood female performances of 2022. Subhash K. Jha of
Firstpost crowned
Gangubai Kathiawadi as the best Hindi film of 2022.
Anupama Chopra of
Film Companion ranked it as the third best Indian film of 2022.
Shubhra Gupta of
The Indian Express listed it as one of the best films of 2022.
Deepa Gahlot of
Rediff listed it as one of her top movies of 2022. Aparita Bhandari of
Paste listed it as one of the ten best Bollywood movies of 2022.
Times of India listed it as one of the best Bollywood films of 2022.
The Financial Express listed it as one of the highly acclaimed content-driven films of 2022. Corinne Sullivan and Jasmine Ting of
Cosmopolitan listed it as one of the twenty best Bollywood movies of 2022. Allan Hunter of
Screen Daily listed it as one of the ten best films of 2022. Siddhant Adlakha of
Vulture listed it as one of the five best Indian films of 2022. Shomini Sen of
WION listed it as one of the best Hindi films of 2022. Anuj Kumar of
The Hindu listed it as one of the best Hindi films of 2022. Nidhi Gupta of
Vogue India listed it as one of the best Bollywood movies of 2022.
Scroll staff listed it as one of 2022's best and most memorable releases in cinemas and on streaming platforms across different languages. Meenakshi Shedde of
Mid-Day listed it as one of the top twenty best all-India films of 2022. == Impact ==