Sanjay Leela Bhansali teams up with Netflix for series Heeramandi, about 'courtesans of Lahore'

Sanjay Leela Bhansali announced on Tuesday morning that Heeramandi will be his next Netflix project. The announcement comes on the occasion of the filmmaker completing 25 years in the industry. It will be a webseries.

The cast and crew are yet to be announced for Heeramandi. The show will explore stories of courtesans and the hidden cultural reality of Heeramandi, Lahore during pre-independence India. The makers have touted the series to be about love, betrayal, succession and politics. The filmmaker currently awaits the release of Alia Bhatt-starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi.

Sharing his thoughts on Heeramandi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali said in a press statement, “Heeramandi is an important milestone in my journey as a filmmaker. This is an epic, first of its kind series based on the courtesans of Lahore. It is an ambitious, grand and all-encompassing series; therefore I am nervous yet excited about making it. I am looking forward to my partnership with Netflix and bringing Heeramandi to audiences all over the world.”

The news was shared on the official handle of Bhansali Productions.

Earlier on Monday, Netflix India had posted a long message marking 25 years of Sanjay Leela Bhansali in the Hindi film industry. "A space intricately detailed, a tune playing in the background that’s new but still feels familiar, faces so bright that they could make the sun look dull, a crescendo of a timeless tale that leaves you wanting to dwell in this dream. All of this, created by the dreamer, the cultural storehouse; who’d have us, and all around us wondering ‘How did he pull THAT off?’ No points for guessing the name: Sanjay Leela Bhansali."

"The four-year old who went on set and never left, the thirty-year old who set out to dream larger-than-life, and the man who now lives by his 25 years old legacy of exalted filmmaking. The mastery with which his films move through time and take us on a journey to places we’ve never had the chance to see before, has always left us spellbound. We’ve all lived a little bit of our lives dreaming and dwelling in the upside-down of SLB’s world. We’ve all heard Laal Ishq play in the background when we gushed over someone we love, pretended we’re at war when fighting with our siblings over the remote control, and woken up in a palace where we saw pink, purple, and yellow-tinted glasses and then... actually woken up to reality," the post read.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali made his directorial debut with Khamoshi: The Musical in 1996. The film featured Salman Khan, Manisha Koirala, Nana Patekar and Helen in important roles and traced the story of a deaf and mute couple. Black, Guzaarish and Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela and Padmaavat are some of his major films.