Aditi Rao Hydari Recalls Having 'Sleepless Nights' During Heeramandi Shoot: SLB Kept Me Starving...

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, made its digital debut on May 1. The show recognised the rich cultural legacy of the courtesans and captivated the audience with its grandeur and aesthetic sets. In a recent interaction, Aditi Rao Hydari recalled her experience of working with the filmmaker Aditi Rao Hydari.

Aditi Rao Hydari on working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali: It was about getting it right and not disappointing him

In an interaction with The Hollywood Reporter during an actor’s roundtable , Aditi Rao Hydari said, “For me, it was my two mujras. I have grown up dancing since I was a little girl, but mujra was a very different form of dancing. I had learnt Bharatnatyam, but this was Kathak and it was Kathak through the eyes of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is a perfectionist max and also knows a lot. And it was about getting it right and not disappointing him”.

She further added, “That really gave me sleepless nights. The scenes where I had to give rousing speeches, Sanjay sir kept me starving for a day because these scenes don’t come naturally and I did it very happily because it truly helped me… hangry help."

Sanjay Leela Bhansali discussed the plot for Heeramandi Season 2

Sanjay Leela Bhansali in an interaction with Variety, he revealed, "In Heeramandi 2,' the women transition from Lahore to the film industry after the partition. Many of them settle in Mumbai or Kolkata. Their journey in the bazaar continues; they still perform, but now for film producers instead of nawabs."

For the unversed, Heeramandi season 1 is set between 1920 and 1947, during the period when the subcontinent was partitioned into India and Pakistan. It unfolds in the Heeramandi district of Lahore, British India. The series also features Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Shaikh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Fardeen Khan, Shekhar Suman, and Taha Shah Badussha.