Alia Bhatt turns gangster in her next

Alia Bhatt is not allowed to talk about her role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Gangubai but she has already started preparing for it.

The film is based on the life and crimes of Gangubai Kathiawadi, a dreaded female crime lord.

Bhansali's film is based on a chapter from S Hussain Zaidi's book on female gangsters, Mafia Queens Of Mumbai.

"This is the first time she will be playing a character so earthy and boisterous. Alia plays a woman, who lives her life to the fullest," a source tells Subhash K Jha.

"Sanjay Bhansali has grown up in a family of gregarious boisterous women. He will guide Alia though this journey," the source adds.

Apparently, Alia is not only mastering the colloquial language, she will also visit the places where women similar to her character live and work.

Interestingly, Vishal Bhardwaj was also set to direct a film based on a chapter from S Hussain Zaidi's Mafia Queens Of Mumbai.

Sapna Didi was based on Zaidi's account of Ashraf Khan alias Sapna, the gangster whose only mission in life was to eliminate her husband's killer, Dawood Ibrahim.

Bhansali's favourite heroine Deepika Padukone was to play Bhardwaj's Sapna Didi.

But the project has been shelved.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Alia Bhatt/Instagram