Heeramandi actors on playing women with different shades: ‘For Sanjay Leela Bhansali, all women are beautiful’

Richa Chadha: For him, all women are beautiful and he does his best to present them in a beautiful manner unless the character depiction demands otherwise. The women characters in his movies are quite different from one another. Then it becomes about other things like emotional challenges or what he thinks of women’s experience in life and love. Even when he explores unrequited love, he does it the best.

What did you have to go through before your selection for the roles?

Sharmin Segal: I have assisted Sanjay sir and watched him during the pre-production stage. He looks at most of his actors as characters and does several rounds of look tests. I went through 17 auditions for the role of Alamzeb. He wanted to make sure I could play the character of Alamzeb and not just look like her. He looks at you, talks to you and understands whether you are capable of playing the character. He does photoshoots, look tests to help you become the character. Because of the 17 rounds of auditions, I got to read the scripts more. Through the auditions, I also got clarity regarding what he expects from me on the sets.

Sanjeeda Shaikh: I had met him nearly 10 years ago. He remembered the meeting and didn’t ask me to audition. He just told me that I was looking happy and he would call me. When I met him again, he just took a look test. He knows the potential of actors and brings out the best in them. I have nurtured myself into a better performer by working with him.

During the look test, we created a scar on my face. The scar adds so much to my character Waheeda — it’s a constant reminder of who she was, who she has become and what she doesn’t want to be. Initially, it was just prosthetics on my face. As I got deeper into the character, it became a part of me.

The characters that you play are broken but strong.

Chadha: I don’t think my character (Lajwanti) is strong. She is an addict. And that’s an aspect one must explore while portraying lives like these (tawaifs or courtesans). I get accused of playing empowered characters. People have also come to expect that of me. To break that (image) a bit, I wanted to play this character who is helpless — not just because of her habits but also because of how society treats her. She is delusional and self-destructive. I wanted to explore the tragedy that she suffers. Her story gives the viewers a gut-punch right at the beginning. Not everything is glorified and beautiful (about their lives).

Heeramandi is a performance-driven show. Was there a pressure on you while facing the camera?

Shaikh: There was pressure. At the same time, there was excitement as you are working with a man known for his brilliance. His passion and perseverance inspire you to give your 200 per cent on the sets.

Segal: It also boils down to the amount of money producers spend for us to stand on his sets. We all talk about his big-budget movies and he is a producers’ director. All the money is spent on making it look better. His expectations of himself are so high that for us to come close to that, we have to work harder.

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Sharmin, do you get any leeway since Sanjay Leela Bhansali is your uncle?

Segal: Not at all. I won’t deny that he loves me a lot. On the sets, I don’t look at him as my uncle but as (director) Sanjay Leela Bhansali. I can’t change the fact that I am related to him. When I was 18, I revisited Devdas (2002), which was made when I was four. By then, I had the maturity to understand his work and my respect for him skyrocketed. Later, when I worked as his assistant (on Bajirao Mastani (2015) and the 2013 film Ram-Leela), I realised the amount of hard work he puts in. Then, I worked with him as an actor and realised what a genius he is. My sister and I never call him ‘mama’ in public and always refer to him as ‘sir’.

How was the experience of shooting the Sakal Ban song sequence?

Segal: We shot the song for five days. At times, I like to go out to meet my friends even when the shoot ends at 11 pm. On one of those days, I had to go to a birthday party and I told Sanjay sir that I was heading home after the shoot to get some sleep. That day, I returned home at 3.30 am after the party and had to report on the sets at 8 am. But it was memorable because that night I met my husband (Aman Mehta) for the first time.

Shaikh: We were dancing in a group and had to synchronise with others.

Chadha: None of us were meant to dance to the song. There were Kathak dancers in the background. We pretty much did it on the set.

How does it feel to be part of a narrative that is driven by feminine energy?

Chadha: Amazing. Most of the stories are driven by male characters and women are doing their best in that structure.

Shaikh: On television shows, women are at par with male characters. The streaming world has given opportunities to different writers and directors. They are unafraid of experimenting with different kinds of content. Sanjay sir adds soul to the characters and it is empowering to play them.

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Heeramandi goes for larger-than-life portrayal of the leading characters, how does such depiction impact mainstream storytelling?

Shaikh: Larger-than-life treatment of women has been a part of Sanjay Sir’s oeuvre such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999).

Richa Chadha: This depends on the narrative. This story is about tawaifs; the areas where they prospered culturally; and became repositories of dance and art. As women who had control over men to some degree, it flows from the narrative. In Bajirao Mastani, Mastani fights in the battle unlike in Padmaavat (2018). So, that’s determined by the story he is trying to focus on. This is great since it will give more filmmakers — men and women — the confidence to put a woman at the centre of a narrative and make it about their rivalry, revenge and redemption.