‘Making of Kamathipura’: Alia Bhatt Calls Bhansali a ‘Magician’ in BTS Clip

'Gangubai Kathiawadi' started streaming on Netflix on 26 April.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Alia Bhatt on the sets of Gangubai Kathiawadi.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

The makers of Gangubai Kathiawadi dropped a BTS clip from the film's sets with the description, "A labour of love and emotions with a vision to bring a story to life. We bring to you the world of Kamathipura, this time through the lens of the filmmaker himself, #SanjayLeelaBhansali."

The montage follows the construction of the Kamathipura sets from the ground up. Gangubai Kathiawadi tells the story of Gangu (played by Alia Bhatt) a young girl trafficked into sex work and went on to become the matriarch of Kamathipura.

Watch the video here:

Talking about Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his vision, Alia Bhatt said, "He's a magician. I call him a magician. It's not only a scene and lines and walk from point A to B and say your dialogue. Everything has a purpose. He only eats, breathes, drinks, thinks about his movie and that's automatically what happens on his set when you're around. Everything about that vision."

"The first time I walked into the lanes of Kamathipura was literaly on our set and I was just wowed. The attention to detail...even in the way the bartans were in a bartan shop. It was magical," Alia added.

The film is based on a chapter of Hussain Zaidi's book 'Mafia Queens of Mumbai'. The sets were designed to reflect the Kamathipura of the 1950s and 1960s from the brothels to the colonial-era buildings and the old-timey theatres.

Production designers Amit Ray and Subrata Chakraborty revealed that it was a little difficult to recreate that time period for the film. The BTS clip also revealed some of the early sketches for the set design. They also praised Bhansali's vision and said that his 'briefing was always clear'.

A sketch for Gangubai's brothel in Kamathipura.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

Subrata informed that they worked on three main theatres, namely 'Roshan', 'Alfred', and 'Gulshan', and they used film posters to show the passage of time.

Gangubai Kathiawadi directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali stars Alia Bhatt, Shantanu Maheshwari, Vijay Raaz, Indira Tiwari, Seema Pahwa, and Ajay Devgn. The film released in theatres 25 February and is now also streaming on Netflix.