According to musician and former assistant director Aditya Narayan, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi was supposed to have a different lead actress at first. The movie won Alia Bhatt a National Award and was a big hit at the box office.
Narayan, who worked as an assistant director for Bhansali for a short time, made the surprise announcement during a recent conversation on Bharti Singh and Haarsh Limbachiyaa’s YouTube Channel.
Narayan said, “He had two scripts with him at the time: Ram-Leela and Gangubai Kathiawadi.” “I believe he was thinking about making Gangubai Kathiawadi with Rani Mukerji as the main character at that point.”
Narayan remembered that Bhansali told his helpers to read both scripts and pick the one they thought was best. Narayan liked the writing for Ram-Leela better, but this new information helps us understand how the biographical crime thriller changed before Alia Bhatt was cast as the main character.
Aditya Narayan’s career problems and his connection to Bhansali
Narayan talked about how hard things were for him after his movie Shaapit failed at the box office.
The singer said that the movie’s failure, even though it included popular songs, left him “jobless for almost a year,” since earlier offers suddenly vanished. He got out of his professional slump when he was asked to host X Factor, where he met Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who was a judge.
After singer Sonu Nigam told him to help Bhansali, Narayan changed his mind. Bhansali didn’t believe Narayan at first, but he ultimately gave him job.
Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) is based on a chapter from Hussain Zaidi’s novel Mafia Queens of Mumbai. It made a lot of money at the box office, bringing in ₹211.5 crore around the world. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is presently filming his next movie, Love & War, which stars Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Vicky Kaushal.