Sanjay Leela Bhansali praises Alia Bhatt for choosing Gangubai: She comes from very high society, upper-class lifestyle

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has spoken about actor Alia Bhatt’s character Gangubai in his upcoming film Gangubai Kathiawadi. In a new interview, Sanjay has recalled a line by the character about accepting the profession of a sex worker. The line also mentions how the ‘society will not be able to function without prostitution’.

Gangubai Kathiawadi has been directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and features Alia Bhatt in the lead role. The film also stars Ajay Devgn in a pivotal role. The period drama has been adapted from one of the chapters of author Hussain Zaidi’s book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai. Gangubai was one of the most powerful madam of a brothel in Kamathipura in the 1960s.

In an interview with Variety, Sanjay spoke about Alia’s character Gangubai, “The women who are weak, who are lost in this big bad world–this is a woman who’s fought for them. It’s about empowering all these women and saying whatever you are, accept what you are. And I like that thought a lot where she says: ‘If you’re a teacher or you’re a professor or you’re a doctor or engineer, then I’m a prostitute. And accept me the way I am, accept my profession, because this profession is not going anywhere. We are the fringe of society but we want to be accepted in society, because society will not be able to function without prostitution, it will always be there’. That belief in herself and that fight for dignity is what fascinated me.”

Speaking about Alia in the role, he said, “She comes from very high society, urban, upper-class lifestyle that she lives in — for her to go to this world, to the other side of it completely, we started working on her voice level to bring the note down, because she speaks slightly on a higher note, and the power in the eyes to find the attitude in speaking and talking. And I realized that she has so much in her that she picked up everything so fast. And very soon she became that woman, she became Gangubai very soon.”

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Apart from Gangubai Kathiawadi, Alia’s projects also include Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, Darlings, RRR and Brahmastra. She will feature with Ranbir Kapoor in Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmastra; alongside NTR Jr and Ram Charan in RRR; with Ranveer Singh in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani. She will also produce and star in the Darlings, opposite Shefali Shah.