During the early hours of February 15, Alia Bhatt was spotted at the Mumbai airport. The actor has jetted off to attend the world premiere of her much-awaited film Gangubai Kathiawadi at the Berlin International Film Festival. Paparazzi also spotted her sister Shaheen Bhatt, who accompanied the actor to Berlin. Alia’s airport look was an all-white ensemble, she wore a white turtle neck with matching trousers, and white boots. Her tresses were neatly pulled back in a low-rise pony. Alia was also seen following all COVID-19 protocols as she wore a face mask. The actor stopped by and posed for the shutterbugs.
The world premiere of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s directorial will take place at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival. Gangubai Kathiawadi has been selected to be screened as part of Berlinale Special, which is a segment of the film festival dedicated to showcasing exemplary cinema. This year, the organisers have decided to screen those films which were shot during the COVID-19 pandemic but did not get a theatrical release so far. Meanwhile, the Berlin Film Festival, which got underway on Thursday evening, has recorded more than 50 positive Covid results from its testing procedures, organisers confirmed to Deadline.
According to Variety, Gangubai Kathiawadi is inspired by S Hussain Zaidi and Jane Borges’s book, Mafia Queens of Mumbai. The film follows the true story of young Ganga, who runs away from her small town of Kathiawad in order to pursue her dreams of becoming a movie star. However, she gets betrayed and instead of making it big in the glamour world, she is sold to a brothel in Bombay’s red-light area Kamathipura. With time, she transforms into Gangubai, who gets regarded as the matriarch of the region. It becomes her mission to try and legitimise a tainted profession that dates back to ancient times.
Apart from Alia, the film features Ajay Devgn, Huma Qureshi, and Emraan Hashmi in cameos, while Vijay Raaz, Seema Bhargava Pahwa, Shantanu Maheshwari, Indira Tiwari, and Varun Kapoor are in supporting roles.
