Sanjay Leela Bhansali Lauds Alia Bhatt For Taking Up Gangubai Kathiawadi; 'I Realized She Has So Much In Her'

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming film Gangubai Kathiawadi has Alia Bhatt essaying the role of a fiesty brothel madam in Bombay's infamous red-light district, Kamathipura in the 70s. The film is based on a chapter from Hussain Zaidi's popular book 'Mafia Queens Of Mumbai'.

Bhansali opened up on Alia's character Gangubai and was all praise for the actress in his recent interview with Variety magazine.

Revealing what attracted him to Gangubai's story, the filmmaker shared, "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."

Further, he revealed that when he offered Alia the role of Gangubai initially, she went away without saying anything but returned the next day and promised him she would trust him and surrender to his vision.

He was all praise for her for taking for this role and 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."

On the other hand, Alia had earlier confided in one of her interviews that she was initially scared when Sanjay Leela Bhansali offered her Gangubai Kathiawadi as she didn't expect a film of this nature coming her way. However, she still went ahead and took it up as she felt that it was an opportunity of a lifetime.

Gangubai Kathiawadi is slated to hit the big screens on February 25.