Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Alia Bhatt missing Gangubai's international awards campaign: 'She needs to be with her baby'

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been promoting his latest film, Gangubai Kathiawadi, overseas in front of international awards committees. The film has launched its campaign in major categories at the BAFTAs and Academy Awards.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is taking his film Gangubai Kathiawadi to Los Angeles for the next stage of the Hindi film's awards campaign. The filmmaker was in London presenting the period film to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). On November 28, he also participated in a BAFTA Masterclass where he spoke about his career and filmmaking process. As he heads for the next leg in the US, the filmmaker must do so without his leading lady Alia Bhatt.

Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and actor Alia Bhatt present their film Gangubai Kathiawadi at the 72nd Berlinale Film Festival. (AFP) (AFP)

Sanjay has been promoting Gangubai Kathiawadi by himself as Alia recently gave birth to her first child, Raha, on November 6. She is married to actor Ranbir Kapoor, who coincidentally made his debut with Sanjay's Sawaariya (2007). Alia is taking a bit of a break with her one-month old daughter before returning to work.

A report in Bollywood Hungama stated that Sanjay wished that Alia could have come with him, if circumstances were different. He shared, "I really missed Alia by my side while interacting on Gangubai Kathiawadi in London and LA. They all wanted to know why she was not with me. I wish she could come. But this is time when she needs to be with her baby.”

In a statement earlier, the filmmaker had said about Gangubai Kathiawadi's international awards campaign, "We are immensely blessed to have received so much appreciation for our film globally and we’re very excited to be part of the conversation this awards season amongst BAFTA voters.” His 2002 film, Devdas, had been nominated at the BAFTA Film Awards in 2003 for the Best Film Not in the English Language.

Alia plays the titular character in Gangubai Kathiwadi. In the beginning of the film, she is a young, naïve girl from Gujarat who is betrayed and sold into a brothel in Mumbai. She regroups and rises from her circumstances to become the most powerful brothel madam in Kamathipura, the red-light district in Mumbai. The film, which released in February, also starred Ajay Devgn, Shantanu Maheshwari, Vijay Raaz, Indira Tiwari, and Seema Pahwa. It had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival a week before its Indian release.