Alia Bhatt-starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi had its worldwide premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this month. Alia and Sanjay Leela Bhansali were seen walking down the red carpet and joining the audience on the premiere night. While the reviews from the premiere have praised Gangubai Kathiwadi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has now revealed that the film received an eight-minute standing ovation after end credits rolled out.
Speaking with Subhash K Jha for Rediff, Bhansali confessed that night he was in awe of his own film. He recalled only 800 people were allowed into the theatre that night due to Covid-19 restrictions and added that even those 800 seats were sold out within an hour’s time. While Bhansali had no intention of watching the film with the crowd that night for he had already seen the film ‘300 times’, he ended up staying back in the hall once the film began playing on the big screen.
“I just couldn’t take my eyes off. I was in awe of my own film!” he confessed. “Birju Maharaj’s, Lataji’s and my mother’s blessings are with me and my hard work. The audience in 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,” he said.
Critics in India are also raving about Gangubai Kathiawadi. The News18 review read, “Bhatt practically disappears into the character of Gangubai Kathiawadi. There’s a hard-to-miss intensity in her eyes, and tenacity in her voice. She commands the screen with a fiery, arresting presence, never letting your attention wander away from her. She’s simply there, in that zone, casually drawing you in, scene after scene. Gangubai might be a flawed character, but Bhatt plays it with such brilliance that the audience is rooting for the character till the very end.”
