MUMBAI: From the time Gangubai Kathiawadi's poster was launched, there has been a group of the audience who said Alia Bhatt was not the right choice for the film. Now, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has finally opened up why he cast Alia Bhatt for the role of Gangubai. 

During a conversation, Sanjay Leela Bhansali cleared the air about Alia Bhatt's casting. The director was asked about what made him sign Alia as Gangubai. The filmmaker said, "I saw her as a very powerful person walking into my house when she was only 9 years old. She came to audition for the film Black. I said to my casting director that she is not the girl I am looking for; I want to save her for a film. And I think she is a big star."

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Coming back to your point, I have written Gangubai 7 years ago. So I told my team lets make Gangubai with Alia Bhatt. They told me that she won't fit into Gangubai’s character. But I told them lets narrate the script to her if she likes the script then we will work it. So Alia Bhatt came to read the script. She was shocked to see the script, Alia said, that I want to be your heroine where there is glamour and gloss and others. She asked me, do you think I would do this and she left my office. Everyone from my team said this will not happen. This girl is out and we have to look out for a new actress. But the next morning she came back and said, you believe in me and I will do it.

Here is the face that executes so my power through her eyes.  Then we did workshops about how they look, speak, stand and walk. We showed her a lot of documentaries and books. I don’t like doing too many preparations. Too much of preparation spoil the idea of performing. Know the basics of your character and the rest you have to create from the little information you have.

Alia understood what I really want from her. During the first day of the shoot, she was a little discomfort about it. She was not understanding in terms of attitudes. But after that first day, we never looked back. She was just flowing and feeling every bit of it. It was a great experience of working with an actress like Alia Bhatt who is without the baggage of being a star. And when the star doesn’t have access baggage then that actor is also a star. I pray to God that an actress like Alia should never get access baggage because Alia Bhatt is too special. 

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