‘I always feel the hand of God In my fIlms’

‘I’ve spoken to Gangubai’s soul.’ ‘I’ve had long conversations with her in my mind.’ ‘I understood her suffering, anger, joys and sorrow.’ ‘I had to connect to the soul of this amazing woman.’ ‘I think I did.’

Sanjay Leela Bhansali feels his new film Gangubai Kathiawadi is his best till date.

“It comes straight from my heart,”

“I am so much more in control of my craft now than when I started off. I’ve improved as a human being and as a film-maker. I’ve become more compassionate.”

Gangubai is also Bhansali’s most personal film.

“It’s a tribute to my growing years. I spent the first 30 years of my life just one lane away from Kamathipura (Mumbai’s red light area, where Gangubai Kathiawadi lived). I gave my all to this film. Every flavour, colour and texture that I remembered from my childhood has gone into this film,” he says. “I remember the walls of my chawl were colourless. Yet, that colourless palate is embedded in my mind. Every utensil in our kitchen, every visual from my childhood -- like the clothes hanging after washing from the second floor which would flap on the first floor, the stench of the gutters -- are all alive in my imagination.”

Gangubai Kathiawadi is a dream that Bhansali nurtured for eight years.

“I wanted to make this film before Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram Leela. I’ve spoken to Gangubai’s soul. I’ve had long conversations with her in my mind. I understood her suffering, anger, joys and sorrow. I knew why she needed to get up and dance. I had to connect to the soul of this amazing woman. I think I did.”

Now that the release is approaching, Bhansali is nervous and anxious.

“It is so important for the Indian audience to watch films in cinemas. Movie theatres have opened up fully after two years. It is such a joyous moment not only for me but for the Hindi film industry to be able to return to movie theatres. It’s a blessing, and not even in disguise,” he says.

“Now we are hoping that the world will celebrate the life of this wonderful woman, who reluctantly became the voice of the women in Kamathipura. Gangubai was a messiah to the women of Kamathipura. She was ravaged by life, but she never stopped fighting and caring for the girls in Kamathipura brothels. This is a woman who is an unsung hero. I want her name to be mentioned in the history of Indian cinema.”

Sanjay Leela Bhansali feels his new film Gangubai Kathiawadi is his best till date.

“It comes straight from my heart,”

“I am so much more in control of my craft now than when I started off. I’ve improved as a human being and as a film-maker. I’ve become more compassionate.”

Gangubai is also Bhansali’s most personal film.

“It’s a tribute to my growing years. I spent the first 30 years of my life just one lane away from Kamathipura (Mumbai’s red light area, where Gangubai Kathiawadi lived). I gave my all to this film. Every flavour, colour and texture that I remembered from my childhood has gone into this film,” he says.

“I remember the walls of my chawl were colourless. Yet, that colourless palate is embedded in my mind. Every utensil in our kitchen, every visual from my childhood -like the clothes hanging after washing from the second floor which would flap on the first floor, the stench of the gutters -- are all alive in my imagination.”

Gangubai Kathiawadi is a dream that Bhansali nurtured for eight years. “I wanted to make this film before Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram Leela. I’ve spoken to Gangubai’s soul. I’ve had long conversations with her in my mind. I understood her suffering, anger, joys and sorrow. I knew why she needed to get up and dance. I had to connect to the soul of this amazing woman. I think I did.”

Now that the release is approaching, Bhansali is nervous and anxious.

“It is so important for the Indian audience to watch films in cinemas. Movie theatres have opened up fully after two years. It is such a joyous moment not only for me but for the Hindi film industry to be able to return to movie theatres. It’s a blessing, and not even in disguise,” he says.

“Now we are hoping that the world will celebrate the life of this wonderful woman, who reluctantly became the voice of the women in Kamathipura. Gangubai was a messiah to the women of Kamathipura. She was ravaged by life, but she never stopped fighting and caring for the girls in Kamathipura brothels. This is a woman who is an unsung hero. I want her name to be mentioned in the history of Indian cinema.” He says he couldn’t resist watching Gangubai Kathiawadi with the Berlin audience.

“When the film started, I thought I’d stay for a while and then sneak away, since I had already seen it 300 times. But I just couldn’t take my eyes off. I was in awe of my own film! The most wonderful thing was that just one hour after they opened the box office, all 800 tickets were sold out.”

The Berlin experience has given Bhansali confidence for its Indian release.”Birju Maharaj’s, Lataji’s and my mother’s blessings are with me and my hard work. The audience at Berlin clapped at my song Dholida. They enjoyed the music, humour and anger of my film. They clapped for eight minutes after the film was over.”

“When I heard that standing ovation, I got my answer. It made all the pain and effort worth the while.”

Atul Kulkarni who will be seen as a police officer in Behaz Khambata’s new film A Thursday, talks about working with Neha Dhupia on the film and says they often feared she may have to go to the hospital in-between the shots. In a new interview with Hindustan Times, Atul also shared his experience of working on the new film that also features Dimple Kapadia. Thursday will start streaming on Disney+ Hotstar from February 17. Asked about the experience of shooting with Neha at a time when she was pregnant, Atul said, “I really wonder how she pulled it off because she was so pregnant. I mean, we were all wondering whether she’ll have to go to the hospital in between the shots. Or whether she will have to go the same day after her shoot. I completely admire that woman. She was going through so much, so much uneasiness and she was also shooting action sequences for the film. She would do all that in the rains, she’d be completely wet. I hugged her on the sets one day and told her ‘I admire you as a professional actor, hats off to you’. It was (very difficult).” Asked about comparisons with Neeraj Pandey’s 2012 film A Wednesday, Atul said, “When people watch the film, they will realise that there is nothing to compare. I am absolutely not thinking about it (the comparisons). There is no similarity at all, no actors or directors, nothing (are same). It is not a sequel to A Wednesday, absolutely, it has nothing to do with that film. It just happens that Thursday comes after Wednesday.”

“Javed Khan is a very sensitive person. As the trailer begins, we wonder why a beautiful and simple teacher has kept her own students as hostages. Her first demand is that she wants to

WHENEVER WE SEE YOUR NAME ON A POSTER, WE KNOW IT WILL BE SOMETHING SPECIAL’. THAT MATTERS A LOT TO ME,”

talk to Javed Khan. Javed is a very sensitive person, more sensitive towards the children. He also has the capacity to deal with multiple people on various levels. From his boss Cathy, her bosses, and even the prime minister is involved,” he added. Asked if he faced difficulty in getting any traits of his character or any sequence right, Atul said, “No. Not at all. I think when the story and character are so well-written, nothing can be difficult.” He added, “It was a very tricky film to shoot. We had our entire set constructed at Raj Kamal Studios when we went into the second lockdown. Then, we had to stop and then it started raining in June and our entire set got destroyed. We built that again, and then the director chose the backdrop of the story as the rainy season because we were shooting in the rainy season. We had a lot of obstacles because of Covid-19, because of rains and sets getting destroyed and all but hats off to the production team and Behzad that they still pulled it off.” Talking about his own journey, Atul said, “I come from a lesser-known city and no one from my family was in the profession (of acting). In fact, I faced a lot of opposition from my family when it came to joining the profession of acting. And, I started very late. My first film came out when I was a 30-yearold man. Considering all of that, I think I have done really good for myself. I have worked with the best of directors, best of actors, and producers. I have been continuously working for 20 years, in 7-8 languages. What more could I have asked for?” Asked about his memories from working on the critically acclaimed Madhur Bhandarkar film Page 3, Atul said, “That was my third film with Madhur Bhandarkar. One dialogue I remember is ‘System ko agar change karna to system ke bheetar reh ke karna padega (You need to be in the system to change the system.) The film is quite close to my heart. It is a fantastic depiction of a certain section of society and of course the press.”

“I always get this from the audience that ‘we do not see enough of you’. Another thing that I hear is that people say ‘whenever we see your name on a poster, we know it will be something special’. That matters a lot to me,” he added.

The actress stars in the Sam Manekshaw biopic with Vicky Kaushal and Fatima Sana ShaikhSanya Malhotra who has her web movie with Vikrant Massey and Bobby Deol, ‘Love Hostel’ next, is excited about her lineup for 2022. The actress in a conversation with midday.com, tells us all about it.

Sanya says, “There’s Meghna’s film Sam Bahadur (Sam Manekshaw biopic ) with Vicky and Fatima, I’m really looking forward to going on set and working with Meghna. It’s a dream come true, I can’t believe I’m working with her. I think I will take time to process this information, I’m just too happy.”

Speaking about her other projects she adds, “Love Hostel is releasing on February 25th which is my 30th birthday and this have never happened so I’m really excited. It feels like I’m getting a gift from the universe, Red chilies, Shankar sir and Drishyam. Then there’s a film I did with Rajkummar Rao HIIT, a remake directed by Sailesh, that will also release this year.”

Actor Aditi Rao Hydari had a very busy 2021, and it appears like she will have a packed 2022 as wellActor Aditi Rao Hydari had a very busy 2021, and it appears like she will have a packed 2022 as well. Her next release, Tamil film Hey Sinamika, has been ready for a year now, is all set for a theatrical release. The actor, however, adds that because of the pandemic, one must always be prepared for sudden and unexpected changes. “Even today, before any release, I get butterflies, because you don’t know what is going to happen, how it is going to go. Also, people’s relationship with theatres seems to be kind of different, we don’t know how they are going to respond, if they are going to theatres,” expresses the 35-year-old.

Hydari’s last few releases have been direct to OTT — The Girl on the Train, Sardaar Ka Grandson and the segment Geeli Puchhi in Ajeeb Daastaans (all 2021). Ask her if she prefers a theatrical release instead, and she says, “Today, I would not say I prefer one over the other, but each film has it’s destiny. There’s a way in which a film is made sometimes. Some are made for that big screen experience. As somebody who has been enchanted by them (cinemas), they are an escape from the world, you are shut out f rom the world. People, in a theatre,are kind of unreachable, you look up to them on that large screen.” Point out to her that the popularity of web platforms has also changed the game now, and the actor agrees. “In the last two years, a lot of my theatrical films went to OTT. I was disappointed [at first], but then I saw how you become so close to people, it is so intimate in the home space. Also, there is a lot of stuff available on OTT to watch.”