Meezaan Jafri on helping out Sanjay Leela Bhansali as an assistant director on Gangubai Kathiawadi: 'It keeps you grounded'

Meezaan Jafri who is the star of Priyadarshan’s latest offering Hungama 2 got candid about returning to work with Sanjay Leela Bhansali as an assistant director on the sets of Gangubai Kathiawadi. The star kid who has previously worked with the celebrated filmmaker on Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat as an assistant was later launched as an actor by SLB in Malaal.

He may be a popular face now, but Meezaan had no qualms returning to assistant Bhansali when a few of the Ads on the Gangubai sets weren’t available. The filmmaker called and the actor along with his Malaal co-star Sharmin Segal were there.

Talking about assisting the filmmaker again, Meezaan tells News 18, “I feel that coming back as an assistant director also keeps you grounded. I think every actor should go back to assisting if they get a chance. I was lucky to do it. He randomly called me and Sharmin Segal as some of the assistant directors were unwell and he needed some help and I landed up on the sets. I love being on any film set. I had a great time working on Gangubai Kathiawadi with Sanjay sir, Ajay (Devgn) sir, Alia Bhatt."

The Hungama 2 actor said he used the opportunity to learn from both Ajay and Alia. “When you see such talented people performing, you get to learn so much. It is just going to help me with craft. Whenever Ajay sir or Alia met me they were extremely sweet. I didn’t have any extra conversations because they were into their character and it was necessary to give them their space. I was just standing and observing how they were preparing for a scene, rehearsing the lines.”

Meezaan also added that he saw Ajay give suggestions to Sanjay Leela Bhansali which helped him learn how as an actor he also needs to contribute to other things.

As far as acting is concerned, the Malaal actor’s second film Hungama 2 arrived on Disney+ Hotstar on Friday. A sequel to the 2003 film by the same name, the movie also stars Shilpa Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Ashutosh Rana among others.