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Just in case anybody's forgotten how gorgeous Sonakshi Sinha can look, the actor sends in a timely reminder.
Playing Fareedan in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's opulent Web series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, Sonakshi totally rocks, and looks like she's enjoying it.
But wait, Sonakshi has a double role in the Web series. Besides Fareedan, she is also briefly seen as Fareedan's mother Rehana.
Sona posts pictures of her look test for Rehana's character, who was the former chief courtesan of the Shahi Mahal and Mallikajaan's (played by Manisha Koirala) older sister.
'Rehana aapa. AAPA NAHI... HUZOOR!!! Here are some photos from my look test for the cruelest of them all... Rehana,' Sonakshi writes.
'Since I was supposed to be playing my own mother, we wanted to make her slightly different... so I put on some weight and we added a lot more drama with the hair where it was longer and curlier than Fareedan's and with the makeup where we kept it heavy on the eyes, elongated the eyebrows and added freckles... green lenses too! Full props to my amazing glam team @heemaadattaani and @themadhurinakhale.'
Sonakshi's character has received appreciation from audience as well as folks from the industry.
Her Rowdy Rathore co-star Akshay Kumar writes, 'Watching #Heeramandi, such a grand spectacle! Great going @aslisona @bhansaliproductions.'
It took Sanjay Leela Bhansali 18 years to make Heeramandi.
"I wanted to make it 18 years ago. Then I thought there was another film to be made, then another film to be made. But this was always on my list of wanting to have to make it one day. After every film, Heeramandi would come out, and I would say once again, wait, it's too vast. It's too epic -- too much of an epic to be made into two or two-and-a-half hours," Bhansali says.
"It's difficult to make a series, but we've made it, and I have enjoyed it. I'm glad and thankful to God that we made it. 14 years of planning, 18 years of living with it, and two years of designing, so it's a lot of work that has gone into it," he adds.
Bhansali had also produced 2012's Rowdy Rathore and the two have been trying to collaborate for a long time.
"He has been very encouraging... We tried to work together but it didn't work out, and we were always in touch. Every time I went to his office, we would chat over coffee," Sonakshi says.
"I was like sir, 'Every time I come to your office, we have coffee and then I leave. I'm not having coffee with you, I will have tea.' I had tea (and) we had the same sort of conversation and I went home. And then, I am in Heeramandi. So, tea is the answer guys, not coffee."
"Sanjay sir and I have been trying to collaborate for many years and I'm glad it happened with Heeramandi. The way he portrays his women on screen, nobody is able to do that. He has got a very different vision for it in spite of it being all magnum opus... He takes good care of how his female characters are portrayed on screen, and that's something I appreciate about him," she says.
"In Heeramandi, we have six different women with six different stories to tell, and each one has been important. So to be part of something like this is tremendous. The fact that we are going global with Netflix, being able to reach out to so many people, this is something that everybody should be able to watch. I'm so glad to be a part of it.
"I walked away as a more patient and resilient actor. That's a good thing, and good things take time and greater things take more time. To be a part of something like this does require a lot of patience."
The actor, who has appeared in entertainers like Dabangg, Rowdy Rathore, and R Rajkumar, said she has no qualms about doing commercial films at the onset of her career.
"I've been working for 14 years and have done all sorts of roles. I started off with commercial masala films where it was always about the hero, which I'm not complaining about, as it gave me an audience and wide reach. It gave me the confidence to shoulder films on my own.'
'That's when I started playing strong women characters, which were different from the others, like Akira or Noor or Khandani Shafakhana or Dahaad. I consciously chose roles I've not played before. That pushed and challenged me as an actor."
Sonakshi also shared pictures from the look test of Fareedan, above.
'The day I became Fareedan ...Fareedan ke aane se rishte nahi... kahaniyaa banti hai! Yeh hai Fareedan ke look test ki kahaani... I thought I was going to have long flowy locks that would sway in slow motion everytime I entered the frame, like every Bhansali heroine.. instead Sanjay sir said isko curly bob cut de do... Fareedan is ahead of her time, a modern figure in every way in the world of Heeramandi. Unabashed, unapologetic, self obsessed and completely her own person. This was the day I became her,' she writes.
In one of the scenes, Fareedan engages in foreplay with a maid, implying her bisexual orientation.
Discussing Fareedan's same-sex orientation in an interview with News18, Sonakshi says, 'Initially, sir (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) had told me that Fareedan is very fluid. At that point of time, a lot of it did happen. And in a place like Heeramandi, people were very open about it. Even Ustadji is very openly a gay man. Sir wanted to explore it in different ways. What Fareedan has been through in her life also has impacted her in a way.'
Analysing the motive behind Fareedan's actions, Sonakshi is quoted to have said, 'She was sold off when she was a nine-year-old girl. Maybe that's why she absolutely hates men. They've left it very open. They didn't explore it any further than that one scene where she meets Choudharysaab (a nawab) and is with her maid. It's just a very vast world and sir has tapped into different aspects of it in small ways.'
Do you know 300 kilos of jewellery was crafted for the women of Heeramandi?
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With inputs from PTI and ANI
