Sanjay Leela Bhansali recently how he lost his cool at a few crew members during Gangubai Kathiawadi’s shoot. He’s someone who believes in the naturalness of acting. He shared his views on a particular scene for Gangubai Kathiawadi where Alia is seen speaking to her mother on the phone. He needed a certain rawness in that scene which he did not want to lay down as instructions and hence he exploded in front of Alia Bhatt just as an indirect form of instigation. Following this Alia’s take of that scene reconfirmed his choice of casting her as Gangubai.
Speaking on the same to a leading publication, he shared, “That was the whole idea that a 16-year-old girl gets trapped into this business, discovers this sordid world and gets up and says, ‘no I have a voice, I have my rights.’ I wanted that passion in the eyes. This girl (Alia) has very powerful eyes. This girl has a certain amount of vocal power that she has when she explodes….”
He also revealed how this outburst took place when Alia was in the initial stage of prepping for that scene. “She was sitting on a chair and I wanted a certain atmosphere. So, suddenly, I saw some staff laughing or giggling and I presumed that they were laughing at me. And then I exploded. All the actors on the set became quiet. It was my way of reaching those vibes to her, of feeling the nerves of calling the mother, of getting anger-filled, and at what note it should explode.”
Furthermore, he added, “I never told her. Till date she doesn’t know that this is what I did to get her into that space. But as a director, I don’t like to give direct instructions to people, because it limits the actor’s imagination.”
Alia Bhatt in the titular role as Gangubai, the mafia queen in Mumbai has been extremely convincing and carried out with perfection. The film continues to rule the box office.
