Taha Shah swallowed fake blood while hanging upside down for six hours during Heeramandi death scene: ‘I puked through my nose’

One of Taha Shah's most poignant moments in Heeramandi was his death scene. He said that he was rigged upside down for six hours while they shot the scene.

One of Taha Shah's most poignant moments in Heeramandi was his death scene, wherein his character's tortured to death and his acting and portrayal of the sequence have evoked amazing responses.

Taha Shah plays the role of Nawab Tajdar Baloch in director Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. (Image: Bhansali Productions/Facebook)

Actor Taha Shah was recently seen in director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s period drama series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. One of his most poignant moments in the eight-episode show was his death scene, in which his character, Nawab Tajdar Baloch, is tortured by the British. Shah recently spoke about the scene, and revealed why it was important to him for it to be graphic.

“I was very excited to shoot that scene. I am a big fan of dying (on-screen). I died in Taj: Divided by Blood (2022), now here, and you will see what happens in the next one [smirks]. On the set that day, we were wearing that costume, and they tied up the rigs and put me upside down, and there was just a little bit of blood. I didn’t like the way this was happening,” he recalled during a chat with India Today.

Watch Heeramandi trailer here:

“Then I asked myself what I wanted the audience to feel. I knew the character graph. So, I thought it needed to be in-your-face disgusting, but at the same time, you need to cry by the end of it. Managing those emotions at the same time, it’s all about the voice. The pain that’s there when he says ‘Alam,’ where he’s completely lost consciousness. For that, I put myself in a situation where I was all alone in my head. For me, Alam was my mom at that moment in time,” he noted.

“To feel that gruesomeness, I drank that fake blood and kept it in my chest. As soon as they hung me upside down, put that fire underneath me, and I started swinging back and forth, I started puking through the nose. So, it was actual puke mixed with blood and boogers coming through the nose. It was like [yuck], but I wanted people to feel that. At the same time, I wanted the emotions, especially the ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ one, to motivate and inspire people. It was six hours of hanging upside down and puking. By the end of it, I think I lost half my consciousness,” he added.

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