As Alia Bhatt is required to pick Kathiawadi for Gangubai film, SLB approaches Gujarati theatre actors to help him find a tutor
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; November 6, 2019)

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's perfectionist streak is legendary in Bollywood circles. And it is that time again when the auteur will stop at nothing to make sure his next turns out exactly as he has envisioned. Only weeks away from taking his ambitious film, Gangubai Kathiawadi, on floors, Bhansali is on the lookout for a tutor for Alia Bhatt. The actor, in her first collaboration with the filmmaker, will play Gangubai Kothewali — the fierce madam of Kamathipura brothels in 1960s who had gangsters as clients, and was rumoured to be a drug peddler. To stay true to her muse — who hailed from a middle-class Kathiawadi family and was eventually sold off to a Bombay brothel — Bhatt will be required to pick up Kathiawadi.

A trade source reveals that while both, Bhansali and Bhatt, are Gujaratis, Kathiawadi differs largely from the colloquial language. "Interestingly, Alia's paternal grandfather Nanabhai Bhatt was a Gujarati Brahmin who hailed from Kathiawad. But Alia is not familiar with the dialect as it is rarely used outside of the pocket in Gujarat. Since the filmmaker is meticulous in his prep, he wants a tutor who is fluent in the dialect. Bhansali has reached out to some of Mumbai's famous Gujarati theatre personalities, including actors Manoj Joshi and Supriya Pathak, to help him in his search. The film will be shot simultaneously as she undertakes the month-long diction class."

Even though Bhatt will speak the dialect only in portions of the film, Bhansali wants his leading lady to perfect the twang. "The dialect has a strong Sindh influence as the region was inhabited by the Kathis and Rajputs from present-day Rajasthan and Sindh."

Despite repeated attempts, Bhansali remained unavailable for comment

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 19, 2014)

With Mahesh Bhatt as its writer, it is not surprising that real life blends seamlessly with the reel in Mohit Suri's upcoming love story, Hamari Adhuri Kahani.

It is no secret that the veteran director's mother, Shirin, was not his father, filmmaker Nanabhai Bhatt's legally wedded wife. "This was a reality we had to live with but she was the lodestar of my life. And I became who I did to give her legitimacy in society," says Bhatt.

So, when he sat down to write Vidya Balan's character in the film, he borrowed cues from Shirin, among the other women who influenced his life.

"She was a beautiful woman living in a man's world. And that is one hell of a hazardous journey, more so for a single woman and a single parent. But her courage, strength and dignity kept her going and these are the qualities Vidya draws from her," he points out.

The actress, who was last seen as a Hyderabadi sleuth in Bobby Jasoos, is a florist at a five-star hotel this time. She aspires to join the upwardly mobile middle-class but her look and her mentality reflect her origins, a strata governed by patriarchy. "She will give voice to millions of Indian women who find themselves trapped in a loveless marriage," asserts Bhatt.

Rajkummar Rao plays her husband, an embodiment of the orthodox Indian man. But during the course of the film, his life takes a turn after which his character acquires dimensions reminiscent of Bhatt's stepmother Hemlata. "She caused me unimaginable anguish through my childhood because she was my father's lawfully wedded wife. But when I finally came face-to-face with her, I realised that she had suffered too, knowing her man was in love with another woman. Yet, she had sterling qualities too---of grace and generosity of spirit which allowed her to make that great sacrifice. Hers was just as much a larger-than-life a love story as was my parents' and that is what makes this film special for me," says Bhatt

The film also stars Emraan Hashmi and has moved from Kolkata, Cape Town, Abu Dhabi and Dubai and finally takes root in a Mumbai studio where it weaves fiction with the facts of its writer's life.