Alia Bhatt and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi has got the nation talking with its storyline and riveting performance. The film has received rave reviews from critics as well as audience. Now, for the first time, the director has been interviewed by his muse. In a new video released by Pen Movies, Alia interviews Bhansali over their film and the maverick filmmaker speaks about a whole lot of things before the interview is gate-crashed by none other than Ranveer Singh.
At the start of the interview, Alia asks Bhansali about his thoughts on their candid conversation. To this Bhansali expresses his excitement and said, “In 25 years of my life this is the most exciting interview because my heroine is interviewing me and Alia who was a baby when I had first seen her is interviewing me so it is very exciting and now you’re a superstar of this nation who is interviewing me so it’s a great honour for me.”
For the first time ever, the man himself, #SanjayLeelaBhansali in conversation with @aliaa08
Watch now: https://t.co/nLhltdNEIj#GangubaiKathiawadi, IN CINEMAS NOW@prerna982 @jayantilalgada @bhansali_produc
— PEN INDIA LTD. (@PenMovies) March 9, 2022
Over the years, Bhansali has developed a reputation for being an intimidating and a hard taskmaster but he revealed that he is a fun-loving person and has a sense of humour. Giving an example on how he imitated Alia on the sets, Bhansali said, “You have to be able to laugh at your circumstances. You know that joy that you have when you’re performing, you’re funny. I’ve imitated your walk from the van to the set… We’ve done all that, because I find it funny. There is a joy, and the process of making a film is not joyous.”
Bhansali and Alia agreed that Gangubai Kathiawadi is laced with humour even though it has its personal pathos. Recalling a story about how one of his associates avoided a tense situation after he rebuked her, Bhansali said giving testimony to his fun-loving and entertaining nature, “After Dholida, there was a shot that I was trying to conceive, and my associate Anisha came and said that we’d run out of time. So I freaked out on her, and she turned around to the assistants and said, ‘Tum logon ko bol rahe hain, not me’. And I have fallen down laughing. I said this is the spirit with which you should take it, otherwise you would’ve sulked and gone home.”
Alia proceeded to ask that one moment where the director could heave a sigh of relief at his final product and Bhansali revealed that that moment happened in Berlin. He said, “That moment happened in Berlin. We saw the film there, had our first press conference and I enjoyed that moment. I think I was a little more confident because you were sitting next to me and blabbering away, non-stop talking. That’s where I felt it has been received correctly and got people to stand up and clap for the next five minutes.”
Bhansali also had high praise for Alia and her performance in the film and compared her to Meena Kumar, Nargis and Seema Biswas. He said, “This film matters to Indian cinema because here was a performance that I think will be celebrated for the next 50-100 years. It could be at par with Nargis Ji in Mother India, at par with Seema Biswas in Bandit Queen, Meena Kumari in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. This is the fourth performance I would talk of in the same league. So this film mattered. Here is a girl who is taking a whole film on her shoulder.”
The interview was gatecrached by Ranveer who has starred in three hit films directed by Bhansali. Bhansali had some choicest words for the actor before the interview ended. He joked and said, “I have a problem with my destiny, this (pointing at Ranveer) is one of the problems.”
(Source: YouTube)
