NEW DELHI: Every time she comes on screen she gives her all to the role she plays. Actress Alia Bhatt, who currently awaits the release of her upcoming film Gangubai Kathiawadi, has talked about how emotionally draining it was to play an intense character like Gangubai in the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial and described her as “sunshine” but with “sadness”.

Gangubai Kathiawadi tells the tale of a young girl named Ganga who becomes Gangubai, a madam in the red light area of Kamathipura. It is loosely based on the true story of Gangubai Harjivandas, popularly known as Gangubai Kothewali, whose life was documented in the book ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’ written by S. Hussain Zaidi.

In a conversation with IANS, Alia spoke about the emotionally draining part of playing a real life character like Gangubai, who was sold by her suitor to a brothel. Alia said in the candid chat: “One of the things that maybe you’ll also get to see in the trailer is that there is a constant anger in her eyes so that comes with what happened to her and the situation she was put in. I remember whenever we used to play out scenes and there would always be that layer sir would ask me to bring in the character and maybe I didn’t understand it while I was doing it and bringing it I was understanding it but when I saw the film in a flow I understood what he was trying to do and that is something ... that all adds up.”