Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s first-ever streaming series, the period drama Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar has garnered mixed reviews from audiences. While the promotions for SLB's magnum opus is in full swing, one of the actors in the show, Aditi Rao Hydari, spoke about her experience working with the actor.
The actor opened up about an instance when Bhansali didn't let her have lunch during Heeramandi shoot and also another instance.
She recalled how the director helped her put her best foot forward. “That happened during the shooting of the first mujra. We started our shoot with ‘Hath hojao‘, which was the first mujra I did. I had also just recovered from Covid at that time. By the end of the first day… the costume was heavy and my brain was not taking in anymore… I could see what he was telling me, I could understand it, but the firing wasn’t happening. But, trust me, what he was saying made complete sense. I was so disappointed in myself because I knew he didn’t get what he wanted. But, just before we wrapped, we got it. My thing here was that he believed so much in us so I never wanted to see him disappointed,” she said during a chat with Bollywood Hungama.
Another instance was when he said that the emotion of anger was not something that came easily to her so he did not allow her to take a lunch break. She recalled, "One day, we did two-three takes and then he just called me very sweetly and he started speaking to me. I immediately got taken into another world. He speaks very beautifully and he speaks from his heart, so it’s very passionate and I had tears in my eyes. And then he said we were going to shoot this scene and gave everybody a lunch break, except me. He asked, ‘Is that okay?’ I was like, ‘Done’. So I didn’t eat and it really helped me. It kept me on the edge and not soft. So I went back to my van and I just thought about everything that he said. He basically told me a story. I came back and we shot it and it was okay."
Heeramandi stars Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sonakshi Sinha, Sanjeeda Shaikh and Sharmin Segal in key roles.