‘Heeramandi’, Netflix’s biggest-budget Indian original to date, is also Bhansali’s grandest yet

‘Heeramandi’ – a collaboration between Netflix and Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali – is the streamer’s biggest-budget Indian original to date, and the director’s grandest yet, according to a report by Variety.

The pair announced the recently-released ‘Heeramandi’ in 2021, and it was shot over 3 years, added the Variety report.

“The scale was big — these are the biggest sets I’ve made in my life,” Bhansali was quoted as saying.

The filmmaker is known for his epic and grand sets especially for blockbuster period films such as ‘Devdas’ (2002), featuring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit, ‘Padmaavat’ (2018) featuring Deepika Padukone and ‘Bajirao Mastani’ (2015).

The story of ‘Heeramandi’, however, was brewing with him for the past 18 years, he had said in an earlier interview.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali says he considered Mahira Khan and Fawad Khan for ‘Heeramandi’

“I always like to keep a story in my mind for at least eight to 10 years before I start making it because then I feel completely familiar with it,” he said.

The longer format also came about as Bhansali realised the story could not be adequately told in a film.

“He had seen what Netflix could do with a narrative like ‘The Crown,’ and felt that there could be a possibility of telling this story in a longer format,” Monika Shergill, VP of content for Netflix India, was quoted as saying by Variety.

Last month, Netflix topped expectations as it reported 9.3 million new subscribers and profits of $2.3 billion in the first three months of the year, as it bet that must-see content would keep viewers paying for the streaming service.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’ offers first look

Bhansali meanwhile, added how in order to make it as authentic as possible, the textiles and designs of the period were painstakingly re-created, and that 80% of the jewelry on the courtesans was real.

The cast also had to undergo Urdu-language diction and body-language training.

What to watch this May: ‘Heeramandi’, ‘Bridgerton’, ‘Mother of the Bride’

“It is definitely not easy when you’re working with a perfectionist, and also you yourself were trying to achieve that perfection,” actor Manisha Koirala, who plays the role of Mallikajaan, the scheming queen of ‘Heeramandi’, was quoted as saying.

“I didn’t want mediocre work. If I’m getting a platform, where I have a director like Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Netflix and a series on this grand scale, I didn’t want it easy.”

India itself is undergoing fierce streaming wars.

Netflix is looking to significantly increase its foothold in the country, where it has about 12 million subscribers.

Last month, JioCinema, the streaming platform run by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, cut prices of its premium offering to as low as 29 rupees ($0.3480) a month, heating up competition for Netflix and Amazon Prime.