Sanjay Leela Bhansali recently revealed that before Gangubai Kathiawadi, he was supposed to shoot another movie with Alia Bhatt titled Inshallah. One of Bhansali's highly anticipated projects, Inshallah was to feature Salman Khan as Alia's co-star. When the movie was shelved, it didn't go down well with Alia Bhatt, the filmmaker shared. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he said, "I was doing Inshallah with her, and suddenly the project got shelved. She broke down, she cracked up, she cried, raved, ranted, locked herself in a room."
Her disappointment did not last too long as just a week later the filmmaker had good news for Alia. "I called her up after one week and said, 'You're playing Gangubai,'" he said.
Bhansali also opened up on how Alia first reacted when she was offered Gangubai Kathiawadi. "From LA, where I was supposed to play the character in Inshallah, I suddenly found myself in Kamathipura. I didn't know if I could do it," she said to him.
But Bhansali admitted he never lost trust in her and urged her to just trust the process. "I will tap into that strong woman in you, because I can see it in your eyes. I can see how convinced you are of certain things, because of your personality. That is my job as a director," he told her.
Bhansali also revealed that once Alia got into the role, she fully embraced the character. "She just flew into the role. She even today sometimes talks like Gangubai. It's so much a part of it. It's so beautiful to have believed in her, to have tapped in her," he added.
Inshallah is not the first project of this director-actor duo to fall through. Earlier, Alia Bhatt was meant to work with Ranbir Kapoor in a film called Balika Vadhu by Bhansali. Alia and Bhansali's next project will be Love and War, which is slated for a March 2026 release. The film also stars Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal.