Alia v Deepika: SLB on choosing the right actor to play Gangubai

The director shared that Alia’s ‘powerful eyes’ made her the perfect fit for the character

In a recent interview with Bollywood Hungama, ace director Sanjay Leela Bhansali sat down to talk about his latest film Gangubai Kathiawadi, as well as on his choice of actor for the titular role. Explaining why he didn’t go with regular collaborator Deepika Padukone, who has starred in several of his films including Ram Leela and Bajirao Mastani, for the titular role, Bhansali shared that Ali Bhatt was better suited to the role of Gangubai.

He elaborated, “They are different people. They have different approaches, they have different heights. They have different voices, they have different body language. They have different approaches to cinema. All that put together… Deepika is a beautiful girl, wonderful actor. For me, Alia is a very beautiful girl, again a wonderful actor. But if I have to do Bajirao Mastani then I will have to have Deepika, and if I’m doing Gangubai, I will have to have Alia play it. So, each one has their own power that they exude when they find a role that suits them, and you cannot give the wrong role to the wrong actor.”

Bhansali continued, clarifying that he does not doubt the potential of either actor, “Not that in the same breath I can say that Alia could not have played Mastani or Deepika could not have played Gangu. But I feel what casting I’ve done, keeping their essence, is the right casting. So, what Alia did for this role, only Alia could have done. And what Deepika did in those roles only Deepika could have done.”

Revealing to Film Companion that he had always had Bhatt in mind to play the powerful character, Bhansali explained that the Highway actor hesitated initially before accepting the role. He shared, “I kept seeing Gangubai [in her] and the whole world, everyone, including the people in the office, felt that she was not Gangubai. But I said that she was, because here was a face that exudes so much power in the eyes.”

Praising the actor for her commitment to the craft, he revealed, “Every time I throw an ace at her, I’d get two aces thrown back at me. It was a great experience of working for 150 days with an actor who is just there, without the excess baggage of being a star.”

Explaining how he saw the immense talent in the Student of the Year actor well before she made it big, Bhansali shared, “I saw a very powerful person walking into my house when she was nine years old. I was sitting by the dining table and my main door was right in front when this kid walked in with her mother. Her eyes reached me. She had come to audition for Black for the small girl’s role. I told Amita Sehgal, the casting director, ‘Not her. I want to save her for a film. I think this was a big heroine and a big star who has walked in. She had a tiny build and curly hair, and there was something very special about her. She kept looking at me and I kept looking at her, and I felt there was some karmic connection I had with this girl.”