EXCLUSIVE: Sanjay Leela Bhansali shifts GANGUBAI to Film City after Salman Khan’s RADHE comes to Mehboob Studios

By Upala KBR -

October 31, 2019 - 11:42 AM IST

'Nahi banuanga set tere set ke saamne…' Dev Anand may have sung 'Tere ghar ke saamne ek ghar banuanga…' to Nutan in the movie Tere Ghar Ke Saamne, but apparently, ace filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali refused to even construct a set next to Salman Khan’s new movie set at the same studio, in recent times. SLB was planning to shoot the first schedule of his next movie, Gangubai Kathiawadi, starring Alia Bhatt, from next week in Mehboob Studios while Salman Khan was planning to do the same with Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, directed by Prabhu Dheva. Salman and Bhansali recently had a fallout when their movie Inshallah got shelved.

EXCLUSIVE: Sanjay Leela Bhansali shifts GANGUBAI to Film City after Salman Khan’s RADHE comes to Mehboob Studios

While there were various reasons given for their fallout - from Salman’s interference in the script and casting to his announcement on Twitter saying Inshallah would release on Eid 2020 without the filmmaker’s knowledge and an upset Bhansali deciding to shelve the movie after that, nobody knows the real reason as neither has spoken about it. Both have moved ahead with their respective films – Salman with Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai and Bhansali with Gangubai Kathiawadi.

Says a trade source, “Salman will be shooting for his home production, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, from November 4 at Mehboob Studios, in Bandra and the construction of the sets have started a few days ago. But what he didn’t know was that Sanjay Leela Bhansali was also planning to begin shooting at the same studios around the same time. But SLB came to know about it when the set of Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai was being constructed so he decided to shift to Film City, in Goregaon – even though they have shot a song for the same on a set constructed earlier. It’s a nice gesture of SLB to move his set to Film City as he’s a very sensitive and perceptive filmmaker and he must have realized that if he and Salman kept bumping into each other at Mehboob Studios, during each other’s shoots in the future, it could become awkward for them both, with the media getting maximum mileage out it.”

The source adds that while Gangubai’s set construction is almost ready in Film City, there was another reason for the change in location. “SLB loves larger-than-life cinema so his shooting will cover two sets in Film City. It’s a sensible decision of the filmmaker to shift his set or it could have become a tense situation for both, even though the parting was amicable. Bhansali was planning to block Mehboob Studio in Bandra for the November shoot as he’s known to shoot in complete secrecy and doesn’t like people taking pictures on their cell phones and leaking out the look of the film and that’s when he came to know about the Radhe shoot. Salman has many people coming to meet him and buzz is that he will do his interviews from the Radhe shoot so plenty of media would also be there. For these reasons, Bhansali decided it was more practical to shift his shoot rather than continue here.”

The two movies are completely different in genre – while Gangubai Kathiawadi revolves around a character, who was a brothel-owner in Kamathipura, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai is an action thriller and about an undercover cop who tracks all over India on a thrilling mission.

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Ranveer Singh to play an accomplished CLASSICAL SINGER in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Baiju Bawra?