Actor Shekhar Suman is now receiving plaudits for his performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.
The actor portrayed Nawab Zulfikar in the online series. In one of his recent interviews, the actor discussed a scenario in which he is inebriated and attempting to make out with Manisha Koirala’s character Mallikajaan.
Shekhar also explained why the technicians on the Heeramandi sets praised him after shooting the scene. For those who haven’t seen the series, the moment happens in the first episode.
It depicts Shekhar’s character inebriated, riding in a carriage with Mallikajaan. He moves forward to make moves on her, but he doesn’t realise where she’s sitting.
Shekhar’s character then humps into the air and eventually crashes down.
In an interview with Zoom, he stated, “The scene is about a nawab who is peeing out of a carriage, and in his state of inebriation is trying to make out with Mallikajaan. Bhansali wanted the nawab to turn around, and get fellatio mid-air, thinking that Mallikajaan is sitting on that side. And he’s convinced. It was a strange interpretation, and it hasn’t been done by anybody before, somebody having sex mid-air. He said, ‘I’m fine if you say no, if you find it too bizarre’.”
However, Shekhar said he agreed managed to do it in the very first take. “I said, ‘In this life, nothing is too bizarre, I’ll do it’. And it was done, first take. Now, a drunken scene is difficult to perform, because you are either over or under. You can start hamming majestically. But somehow, I understood the tonality of it, the gravitas of it. So, I did it instinctively, and he came running and said, ‘Magnificent’. And it was pack-up after that. All the technicians came over and said, ‘Sir, thank you, otherwise this would’ve gone on and on’,” Shekhar added.
It is worth noting that this is the first time Shekhar and his son, actor Adhyayan Suman, have appeared together in a project. While Shekhar played Nawab Zulfikar in the show, Adhyayan plays both young Nawab Zorawar and a younger version of his father’s character.
In another interview, Shekhar described Heeramandi as a ‘gift’ in their lives.
Heeramandi was launched on Netflix on May 1. The cast also includes Sonakshi Sinha, Richa Chadha, Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Sharmin Segal, Fardeen Khan, and others.
