Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is returning to theatres this week with the highly anticipated Gangubai Kathiawadi, never fails to impress the audience with his big-budget movies. Not just this, but the perfect glittery sets in his epic dramas always send the viewers back to those eras, making his films worth the wait. Even before the Gangubai Kathiawadi trailer was released, the noted director, who is well known for his critically acclaimed movies including Devdas, Bajirao Mastaani, and Padmaavat, announced his mega-series with Netflix called Heeramandi.
Now, the latest update is that SLB’s maiden web series will be the absolute opposite of his predominant style. As per Bollywood Life, Sonakshi Sinha, Manisha Koirala, and Aditi Rao Hydari-starrer Heeramandi will be the filmmaker’s darkest project to date, with not just excessively dark themes, but the treatment of the visuals, scene, and background is expected to be of very dark in nature.
Earlier, media reports were making the rounds on the internet saying that an intimacy director would be very much a part of the crew on-board for Heeramandi. Now, the latest update is that the Netflix series is expected to be full of sex and abusive language, which is something completely in contrast to any Bhansali project so far. According to the report, Bhansali previously tried to make Heeramandi a movie for the big screen. Not just this, but apparently the film was offered to quite a few A-listers, including Priyanka Chopra, Madhuri Dixit, Rekha, Tabu, and Shabana Azmi, but for some or the other reason it couldn’t take off, until now.
Earlier, in a pre-recorded interview in Tudum, the filmmaker talked about his web series, and said, “Heeramandi was something that my friend MoinBaig got to me 14 years ago. And then finally, when we presented it to Netflix and they loved it. They thought it had a great potential to make a mega-series. It’s very ambitious. It’s very big. It’s very vast. You have the story of the courtesans pre-independence. They kept music and poetry and dance and the art of living the politics within the kothas and how to emerge as the winner.”
Coming back to Gangubai Kathiawadi, Alia Bhatt is headlining the film with Ajay Devgn in an extended cameo. It is all set to be released in theatres on February 25.
