Alia Bhatt is very aware of what she can or cannot do: Dholida choreographer Kruti Mahesh

Kruti Mahesh is the choreographer of Dholida from Gangubai Kathiawadi. In an exclusive interaction with IndiaToday.in, she spoke about working with Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and much more.

Kruti Mahesh, who had earlier choreographed for Deepika Padukone's Ghoomar, Ek Dil Ek Jaan, and Holi in Padmaavat, has once again choreographed the entire dance album for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Gangubai Kathiawadi. The film stars Alia Bhatt in the lead. Speaking exclusively with IndiaToday.in, choreographer of Dholida, Kruti Mahesh shared her experience of working with Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and more.

Excerpts from the conversation:

The dance number Dholida is picturised on Alia Bhatt for Gangubai Kathiawadi. It has gone on to become a huge hit. The actress was seen in a never-seen-before avatar and has left everyone spellbound with her perfect garba moves in the song. No wonder people belonging to all age gaps have tried to recreate Alia's magic through reel videos. Talking about the song and the brief given by SLB, Kruti shared with IndiaToday.in, "It is done on the character Gangu because she comes from Kathiabad, so there is an essence of Kathiawadi garba in it. Also, it is the only day when the women of kamathipura come out and enjoy their freedom.”

Further adding, “They let go and celebrate themselves and womanhood. It is not just another dance. It has many layers which had to come through in about three and half minutes. Gangu, being the powerhouse or the Mafia queen of Kamatipura, there is a masculinity that she carries. So the song could not have been just elegant women dancing, it had to have that masculinity to it. So the brief was simple, that Gangu should be shown celebrating women."

Kruti also spoke about the challenges that came by while shooting Dholida with Alia Bhatt. She shared, "There were many challenges while shooting this song. We were supposed to shoot Dholida in January 2020 but then Covid happened. Then it went on and off. And so meanwhile, we shot other songs and then we came back Dholida again in January 2021. It was a year of back and forth. Meanwhile, Alia had practised the song and then we shot it in six days. The hook step I got in the first 2 days of rehearsal, we thought it should have the masaledaar thing to it, at the same time the swag of Garba and the feel of Kamatipura, which had to be easy for everyone to do it."

Sharing her experience of working with Alia Bhatt, the choreographer stated, "As an artiste, as a performer, Alia has no inhibitions, she is very mature and she is very aware of how much she can and cannot do. But having said that, she knows how much she can push herself too. She is very mature and well-focused. Alia, as a person, is very light and she is easy to work with. You don’t feel burdened and you don’t feel heavy like 'arre yaar how will this happen'. You know when you have Alia, good things will happen and things will fall in place."