Sanjay Leela Bhansali cuts Mumtaz and Shabana Azmi’s roles in Heeramandi

Recently it was reported that Shabana Azmi and Mumtaz couldn’t do Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s web series, Heeramandi. Being the perfectionist Sanjay is, he decided to cut the roles he offered to Shabana Azmi and Mumtaz rather than casting alternative actresses.

Talking about the same a source close to the project said, “They were important but brief roles, and they were written with the two iconic actresses Shabana Azmi and Mumtaz in mind. When Shabanaji and Mumtazji couldn’t do Heeramandi, Sanjay Bhansali decided to scrap the two roles rather than offer the parts to anyone else.”

Sanjay Leela Bhansali Heeramandi

Aside from that, a source reported that the shooting of Heeramandi is taking longer than expected. “The series is being shot on huge sets representing a sprawling kotha. The shooting is taking longer than expected. Sequences that were meant to be shot in one day are taking as much as three days,” the source said.

Nonetheless, Netflix has shown full support for Sanjay’s vision and they are not even drawing any budget boundaries on the project. An insider placed in the industry has even revealed that Netflix thinks that Heeramandi is a game-changer in India and they are fully committed to the project.