Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt has worked with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali for the first time in Gangubai Kathiawadi. The actress, who is playing the lead protagonist, will be seen depicting the character of a sex worker. While the trailer looks very promising, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has disclosed that Alia’s boyfriend, Ranbir Kapoor, has had one ‘complain’ about the actress.
While talking at the press conference during the Berlin International Film Festival 2022, Bhansali was all praises for Alia. He said that the actress has emulated Gangubai’s character to the extent that Ranbir complains she talks like Gangubai at home as well. Bhansali added that when he would gaze at Alia arriving on sets, he would feel Gangubai had arrived and not Alia. “I think Alia for a long time is going to live in Gangubai because she has played it to the hilt. I think she has become more Gangubai than Alia in real life. Her boyfriend complains about her speaking like Gangubai at home and it’s just completely becoming one with the character. Now it’s just a director’s delight to see that the girl who comes out of the car at the studio is not Alia, it’s Gangu. She would walk like Gangu on the set, she would go home walking like Gangu,” he said.
Ranbir Kapoor and Sanjay Leela Bhansali go way back. While Kapoor was an assistant director on Bhansali’s directorial Black, starring Rani Mukerji and Amitabh Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor made his Bollywoo debut next to Sonam Kapoor in Bhansali’s Saawariya.
Gangubai Kathiawadi is slated to release on February 25. Apart from Alia, the film also features Vijay Raaz and Seema Pahwa. Ajay Devgn also has an extended cameo.