Actor Alia Bhatt has found a new fan in Hollywood actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who heaped praise on the Jigra star for her performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi, calling it a film similar to classics like The Godfather and Goodfellas. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, popular for films such as 10 Things I Hate About You, 500 Days of Summer and Christopher Nolan’s Inception, is on his maiden India trip. He was speaking at the inaugural session at IFP (formerly India Film Project), where he was in conversation with Rajkummar Rao.

During the chat with Rajkummar, the actor couldn’t stop himself raving about the 2022 drama film, which featured Alia Bhatt in the titular role of the sex worker. The film earned Alia Bhatt a National Award for her performance. “I found the movie so unique and beautiful, completely different than anything I had seen because it was this very heavy, distinguished drama that almost felt like a (Martin) Scorsese movie at times, but then there are these gorgeous musical numbers that felt so sincere and well crafted,” he said.

Later, Joseph Gordon-Levitt expanded on why he was blown away by the Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial, highlighting how the acclaimed film balanced high octane drama with song pieces.

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) pic.twitter.com/26BZPBrMTI

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“I recently watched a film with Alia Bhatt, who I think is a really brilliant actor. It is a period drama of this prostitute who rises…. It’s almost like the Goodfellas or The Godfather. It was such a great movie. Usually in Hollywood you wouldn’t see such a sincere drama, which then breaks into these song and dance numbers. When the first one happed in the movie, I wasn’t expecting it, but then it was just so good– the music, the singing, the dancing, the choreography, the camerawork, everything was so well executed.

“I don’t think there are any contemporary American movies that are so well done in terms of the musical numbers. I was absolutely enchanted with it and found the movie really inspiring. It’s part of why when I received the invitation to come here to IFP, I thought I’d love to come to India and learn more about Indian movies and one day I want to be in an Indian movie,” he added.

Gangubai Kathiawadi was among the earliest hits of Bollywood after cinema halls opened post pandemic. The film earned Alia Bhatt immense acclaim and bagged five honours at the 69th National Film Awards, including best actress for Bhatt, best screenplay (adapted), dialogues, editing and makeup. The makers had also submitted Gangubai Kathiawadi for the Academy Awards in all the key categories.

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