Sanjay Leela Bhansali Calls It 'A Great Moment' As Gangubai Kathiawadi Bags 10 Filmfare Awards

"Its a film I believed in and I am very happy I made the film” says Sanjay Leela Bhansali on Gangubai Kathiawadi as the film wins big with 10 awards at Filmfare.

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New Delhi: It was a magnificent night for Sanjay Leela Bhansali whose film Gangubai Kathiadwadi made a clean sweep at a leading award function last night. With a whopping 16 nominations and 10 awards.

The list includes Best Film (Gangubai Kathiawadi), Best Director (Sanjay Leela Bhansali), Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female), (Alia Bhatt), Best Dialogue, (Prakash Kapadia, Utkarshini Vashishtha), Best Background Score, (Sanchit Balhara and Ankit Balhara), Best Choreography, (Kruti Mahesh (Dholida- Gangubai Kathiawadi), Best Cinematography, (Sudeep Chatterjee), Best Costume Design, (Sheetal Iqbal Sharma), Best Production Design, (Subrata Chakraborty And Amit Ray) and the Special RD Burman Award for Upcoming Music Talent, Janhvi Shrimankar (Dholida- Gangubai Kathiawadi), the film was by far the most celebrated of the night.

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Reacting to the film's big wins, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, "It's a great moment for us. It's a great day for us and I feel all our hard work has finally paid off. It's a film we believed in and I'm very happy I made the film. I'm very happy Alia acted in the film and Ajay Devgn and all the other great actors who have acted in the film and all the technicians...it's a very happy moment for all of us. We have worked all through the lockdown and COVID so it's always special."

After premiering at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival last year, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ went on to become the first bonafide Hindi-language blockbuster in 2022.

In its theatrical run ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ grossed ₹153.69 core at the domestic box office and ₹209.77 globally emerging as a massive commercial success – What made this feat even more remarkable is that the odds were stacked against the film. The most obvious being audiences’ reluctance to watch films in theatres due to the pandemic, the fact that cinema halls saw only 50% occupancy and that Gangubai was headlined by a female star, whose films don’t conventionally perform the same numbers as those driven by their male counterparts.

It also went on to become one of the most-watched Hindi films on OTT, speaking volumes for its popularity and appeal not just on home-turf but overseas.

Considering all its achievements this year, be it the rave reviews, outstanding box office numbers and the many hurdles it overcame to emerge successful, it’s safe to say that ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ was the most loved Hindi films of all time and the 10 awards the film swept last night only reaffirm that.