Shantanu Maheshwari on working with Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Gangubai Kathiawadi: ‘She allowed me the space to do what I wanted…'

Indian Express

24-04-2025

Actor Shantanu Maheshwari is currently seen on the OTT show Campus Beats Season 5. In a recent interview with SCREEN, Shantanu spoke about working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Alia Bhatt on Gangubai Kathiawadi. While expressing his admiration for Bhansali, Maheshwari revealed how the director supports his actors throughout the filmmaking process. He also praised Bhatt for making him comfortable despite being a huge star.
Talking about working on Gangubai Kathiawadi, the actor said, 'Something in me just changed after Gangubai Kathiawadi. The way I look at things, the way I perform. Now, whenever I do something, I make sure I give my 100 percent. Even on my bad days, I try and give my 100 percent. Given the time and scenario, you can always ask for an extra take or talk to your director. I have been fortunate enough to have that camaraderie with my directors or DOPs, where they have given me that space to talk. I won't say it just happened because of Gangubai, but all the experiences I went through till Gangubai. It has made me strong enough to understand what I need to grasp. You have to come prepared. When someone that genius talks to you, you need to grasp and absorb what is happening.'
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Revealing that he initially felt intimidated by Bhansali, Maheshwari went on to share, 'I was very scared because people also around me made that kind of a situation where they kept saying, 'Don't do this, don't get nervous, etc.' But whenever he spoke to me, I never felt he was being harsh or too demanding. He knows what he wants, he is very passionate about it, and I understand that.'
Shantanu Maheshwari also revealed how Sanjay Leela Bhansali supports his actors throughout the filmmaking process. The actor said, 'I kept on reading the scene again and again. We used to have rehearsals before the scene. When SLB instructs, he expresses, but he doesn't want you to see it. He doesn't want you to ape that, but incorporate it. It was super fun to play along with that and understand what he was desiring and wanting my character to do. He would come, say one or two lines, and leave. Sometimes he used to shock me.'
He added, 'Once I was doing this scene where Alia's character is in the bathroom. I delivered my line, and he called me in front of the monitor. I was so scared because that was the first time, so I wondered if I had done something bizarre. He exactly told me what I was thinking, and asked me to remove that seed of awkwardness. I was just mind blown that time. I just kept wondering how he figured out what I was thinking. He will say the right things, but very few things; and you have to be ready to soak it in.'
Lastly, Maheshwari praised Alia Bhatt Bhatt for making him comfortable despite being a huge star. 'Alia is amazing. She just enhances your performance. By just reacting to what she was doing, it just became like, 'Oh wow, he is doing it so well.' Big credit to her for just making me comfortable around her. That was very important because if there was any kind of awkwardness between us, it would have been captured. She allowed me the space to do what I wanted to with that character. I was no one; she could have ignored me and been professional about it. But she made sure to make me comfortable, thinking about the bigger picture, and that was very helpful.'