Heeramandi’s Jason Shah reveals shocking details about SLB's set

Bollywood actor Jason Shah surprised fans by revealing new details about the set of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.

Shah played a negative role of a British officer Alastair Cartwright in Bhansali’s debut web series on Netflix.

During an interview to an Indian media outlet, Jason Shah revealed that the atmosphere on Heeramandi set was stressful and also lacked ‘simple niceties’ during the shoot.

“I started thinking, I am the villain (on the show), so maybe they want the villain to be angry and disconnected from everybody. But me being connected to a human being on set never really boils over to my character onscreen. I felt a little bit out of place in some places, but I guess you keep on going with the flow of things and pick it up from wherever,” he said.

According to Shah, Sanjay Leela Bhasali did not introduce himself properly when he arrived on the first day of the shoot.

“I was sitting inside one of the rooms in his office. I had the script in my hand, and that’s when he came in and started nonchalantly looking through a cupboard. He then looked over and said a very silent, ‘Hi.’ It wasn’t an introduction of sorts. I realised later that he had come to see me to check if the guy that he chose would be able to carry it off,” Jason Shah said.

It is pertinent to mention that Netflix has greenlit another instalment of Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.

The official Instagram handle of Netflix India confirmed on June 3 that the debut web series of Bollywood’s seasoned filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been renewed for season 2.

Notably, the launching season of Bhansali’s ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’, which explores the stories of courtesans living in the red-light district of Lahore, during pre-independent India, premiered on Netflix last month.

The eight-episodic web series, starring Richa Chadha, Sharmin Segal, Aditi Rao Hydari, Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha and Sanjeeda Sheikh in main roles, along with Farida Jalal, Fardeen Khan, Shekhar and Adhyayan Suman, and Taha Shah, received mixed reviews from viewers and critics alike.