Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi series to go on floors by March end, with a set worth Rs. 1.75 crore created in Mumbai
The dream director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali who cast a spell on Indian cinema with his period movies like Bajirao Mastani (2015), Padmaavat (2018), Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) is all set to make his OTT debut with a Netflix series titled Heeramandi. The series is based on the Heeramandi redlight district of ancient Lahore.
As per reports, SLB is ecstatic to begin production on this period drama, and it will go on floors by April. A huge set representing Lahore in 1945 has been created in Mumbai's Film City, costing over Rs. 1.75 crore. The space is shared this time by two of his masterpieces, Gangubai Kathiawadi and Heeramandi. It's not like the two projects are being shot on the same set. On the contrary, new sets for Heeramandi are rapidly being built, but this time in the same site where the sets for Gangubai Kathiawadi were created.
A source connected to the project reported to ETimes, “The setting work of Heeramandi is currently going on. We are recreating a pre-independence Lahore.” According to the source, roughly 700 set builders are now working on the set, which includes the construction of brothels and the city of Lahore. The source further revealed, “The set should be ready by January and shooting will begin only in February.”
According to reports, the series will feature Madhuri Dixit Nene, Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi, Nimrat Kaur, and Sayani Gupta. When we approached Sonakshi about doing Heeramandi in an earlier discussion with Pinkvilla, she said the following, “There are speculations but I’ll wait for Sanjay Sir and his team to make official announcements. I don’t want to be saying anything, or stepping out of line. But yes, there are speculations, and people can speculate all they want,” the 34-year old actress said.
Madhuri Dixit, Rekha, Tabu, and Shabana Azmi were among the other actresses allegedly considered for the series.
