Shekhar Suman Reveals Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Reaction To Heeramandi's Oral Sex Scene: "Magnificent"

Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar features Sonakshi Sinha, Sharmin Segal, Manisha Koirala, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Aditi Rao Hydari and Richa Chadha in key roles

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar is undoubtedly a star-studded project. With actors like Sonakshi Sinha, Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari, and Richa Chadha, the Netflix show is winning the hearts of the audience. Recently, Shekhar Suman, who plays Nawab Zulfikar in the series, discussed an intimate scene from episode 1, that features Zulfikar and Mallikajaan (played by Manisha Koirala). Shekhar recounted how director Sanjay Leela Bhansali offered a unique interpretation of the original script while filming the sequence. During a conversation with Zoom, Shekhar shared, “Normally like any other actor, I just went completely prepared with my line what was given to me with my own interpretation. When the scene was just about to begin, he called me and said, ‘I have thought of a bizarre interpretation of this. Are you open to it?' I said, ‘Yes', and he completely turned it around and it was something that nobody had thought.”

Shekhar Suman continued, “He, (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) out of the blue, he probably thought that this is done to death kind of thing. Let me do it this way. So it's about this Nawab, who is pissed drunk, is peeing out of a carriage pulled by Mallikajaan. And he is trying to, in his state of inebriation, trying to make it out with her.”

Sharing the filmmaker's idea, Shekhar Suman added, “He (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) said, ‘No, turn the other way around. And then he (Nawab Zulfikar) takes a fellatio, sort of an oral s*x mid-air, thinking that Mallikajaan is sitting on that side. And he (Nawab Zulfikar) is convinced because he is nawab and he has turned. So Mallikajaan says, ‘What are you doing? I'm here.' He says, ‘No. I know what I'm doing, and I know you are here.' So, that was a very strange interpretation and that has not been done by any actor or director ever before that somebody is having s*x mid-air. But done nicely.” 

The actor also recalled Sanjay Bhansali saying, “I am fine. If you say no, because I just thought of it. Do you find it too bizarre?”