In a new interview Seema Pahwa shared her experience working with Alia Bhatt in Gangubai Kathiadwadi. The actress recalled Alia Bhatt selflessly helping a child artist.

When Alia Bhatt helped a young artist on sets of Gangubai Kathiawadi. (Source: Instagram/Alia Bhatt)

When Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi released in theatres in 2022, it brought a lot of appreciation for lead actor Alia Bhatt. Two years later, Seema Pahwa who played the role of Sheela, recalled an incident on set, which changed her perspective about the Student of The Year star. In a recent interview, Seema Pahwa revealed how Alia rescued a child artist when Sanjay Leela Bhansali was getting annoyed while shooting a scene with her.

In an interview with Hindi Rush, Seema shared her experience of working with Alia for the first time. She said, “Back in my mind I was anticipating, ‘she is a new girl and from a film family, I wonder how she would be as a person.’ But, I was surprised. She treated me with a lot of respect. Maybe because Sanjay introduced me to her as a senior actor. But, one incident on set changed my perspective about her.”

The veteran actress added, “There was a scene with a young girl, who was pretending to be asleep and then had to say one dialogue. They were shooting for that one scene for a long time. It was about 3 in the morning. The child was sleepy. So, every time she went to the bed, she would actually fall asleep and miss her dialogue.

This made Sanjay furious and irritated. He was yelling, ‘why is she falling asleep every time?’ It was at this time that Alia Bhatt came to her rescue. I saw it myself. She instructed the child artist that ‘when I will pull your arm, you say your dialogue.’ It was a selfless gesture, it impressed me.”

Gangubai Kathiawadi was one of the first films to hit the big screen after the COVID-19 pandemic and among the few films to have crossed Rs 100 crore mark post-pandemic. The film earned Rs 211.5 crore worldwide, according to Sacnilk.