Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Alia Bhatt, back on sets of Gangubai Kathiawadi after just about seven months
Actor Alia Bhatt has continued shoot of her forthcoming movie Gangubai Kathiawadi with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. All work on the film had quit inferable from the Covid lockdown. Alia plays a gun-wielding brothel proprietor in the film.
The first-look of the film has been uncovered in January this year. The film’s shoot had initiated too and a detailed set had been made at Mumbai’s Film City. Every last bit of it went to a grinding end in March after the pandemic-related lockdowns came into place.
As indicated by a Mid Day report, after almost seven months, the shoot has continued with Alia and team covering the sets at 7 pm. An anonymous source told the distribution that Bhansali has been shooting night arrangements before the lockdown. “To maintain continuity, Sanjay sir picked up the shoot exactly from where he had left it. Since October 1, Alia and the team have been reporting to the set by 7 pm, and the stint goes on till the wee hours of the morning. Although a part of the grand set had been pulled down ahead of the monsoons, the portion resembling Kamathipura had been left untouched. So, the director has been able to shoot without any hiccup.”
The film has been adjusted from one of the chapters of Hussain Zaidi’s book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai. The biographical drama will see Alia to be Gangubai Kothewali, a furious brothel owner who was supposed to have had gangsters as her customers.
Talking about Alia’s preparation for the role, a prior report in a similar publication had cited a source who had referenced, “Alia’s paternal grandfather Nanabhai Bhatt was a Gujarati Brahmin who hailed from Kathiawad. But Alia is not familiar with the dialect as it is rarely used outside of the pocket in Gujarat. Since the filmmaker is meticulous in his prep, he wants a tutor who is fluent in the dialect. Bhansali has reached out to some of Mumbai’s famous Gujarati theatre personalities, including actors Manoj Joshi and Supriya Pathak, to help him in his search. The film will be shot simultaneously as she undertakes the month-long diction class. The dialect has a strong Sindh influence as the region was inhabited by the Kathis and Rajputs from present-day Rajasthan and Sindh.”
Vivek Gupta is a writer for timesofchennai.com. Writing has always been his passion. He joined Times of Chennai after getting a Master’s Degree in creative writing at University in Tamil Nadu. He writes some articles, essays. Now he connecting the Times of Chennai.
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Times of Chennai journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.