Gangubai Kathiawadi: Not Alia Bhatt, Rani Mukerji And Priyanka Chopra Were Sanjay Leela Bhansali's First Picks?

On the occasion of Diwali, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali announced two big projects- Gangubai Kathiawadi and Baiju Bawra. Gangubai Kathiawadi, which is based on the life of Gangubai Kothewali, also known as the Madam of Kamathipura, will be headlined by Alia Bhatt. The Raazi actress’ dream had come true when the makers had announced Inshallah with Alia and Salman Khan. But unfortunately, the film got shelved abruptly. Soon after, the filmmaker decided to go on with Alia and announce his much-awaited Gangubai Kathiawadi.

But do you know, Alia Bhatt wasn’t the first choice of Sanjay Leela Bhansali to play Gangubai? Well, according to the latest reports, the first choice of SLB was Rani Mukerji. But when the Hichki actress turned down the project, Bhansali approached Priyanka Chopra while filming Bajirao Mastani for the same. But the deal couldn’t take off as PeeCee was running on a tight schedule while also pursuing a career in Hollywood.” (ALSO READ: Post Alia Bhatt Starrer Gangubai, Sanjay Leela Bhansali To Soon Announce His Next - EXCLUSIVE)

A source close to the filmmaker told TOI, “When ‘Inshalla’ got shelved, Bhansali already had a film ready to take on floors. With Alia’s dates booked, he decided to greenlight ‘Gangubai’ which was in the making for a very long time. SLB is also known to revisit his films again and again. ‘Ram Leela’ and ‘Bajirao Mastani’ were both on the shelve for the longest time before they finally began rolling after Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone came on board.”


Meanwhile, multiple names of different Bollywood actors to be paired opposite Alia Bhatt have been doing the rounds of the internet. Earlier it was reported that Hrithik Roshan has been considered to play Don Haji Mastan, but nothing has been confirmed.