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Actor Jayati Bhatia, who played Phatto in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi, was a prominent part of the ensemble. Jayati shared that during the making of the series, she got to see a side of Bhansali that isn’t discussed much, and revealed that he would meet his actors warmly every morning. She said that people have unnecessarily assumed that Bhansali is always hot-tempered, but that actually isn’t the case.
“He really loves his actors. People have just created this kind of impression… but when I would go and meet him in the morning, he would hug me, kiss me on my cheek,” she shared with ABP Live. She also shared that Bhansali would award Rs 500 to an actor when they gave an excellent shot, and she got this honour thrice during the filming of Heeramandi. “When you give a great shot, he gives Rs 500, and I got it three times. I got Rs 1500. When he finds the shot to be excellent, he won’t say okay. He would either say ‘Jeeyo Phatto’ or he will say ‘500 rupay’,” she shared with joy.
When asked if she had framed those notes, Jayati said that she hadn’t, but she had saved them. “I have kept them safely,” she said.
Earlier, actor Indresh Malik, who played Ustaadji on the show, had also spoken about something similar. He shared that after his ‘nath’ scene with Sonakshi Sinha’s Fareedan, Bhansali was so impressed with him that he awarded him Rs 500. “He said, ‘Dekho, rota jaa raha hai, itna achaa toh kiya (Why are you crying, you did so well)’. Then he hugged me and gave me Rs 500 on the sets as a token of appreciation. I kept thinking about the character and that carried on for five minutes,” Indresh said.
Heeramandi is streaming on Netflix.
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