Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos sat down together to chat about Bhansali’s upcoming historical drama series Heeramandi and the state of the entertainment landscape today.
When asked what it is that helps Netflix decide whether to back a project, Sarandos stated: “It’s different for every kind of thing you watch, and for me, it is ‘do I care about these people?’, ‘Am I interested in this world?’, and ‘Do I want to see what happens to them?’.”
On the influence of data analytics on their decisions, he added: “Data is a tool, It’s not anything but. It does help you understand some things but there is kismet and magic that is not captured in the data.
“Data is very good at telling you some version of something you already did but when you’re trying to take on something you’ve never seen before, the data is of no use to you at all.”
Bhansali was asked about the changing preferences of Indian audiences, to which he had to say: “Any filmmaker who says he knows the audience lives in a fool’s paradise, you never know the audience.
“They are everything to us and understanding how they are changing is impossible. The filmmaker has to understand himself, he is the one that has to make something the audience doesn’t expect, and that is how the filmmaker actually changes the audience.”
Touching upon his shift from the big screen to Netflix for Heeramandi, Bhansali had this to say: “I’ve made some big films and it comes naturally to me, but shifting to digital, I’ve made it even bigger. Heeramandi is the biggest project that I’ve made, it is so huge in scale.
“I did not have to adapt to a digital space because at the end of the day, you’re watching a film, or you’re watching a series and it has to be as creative, as intense, or as interesting so there is no holding back or trying to think differently for the OTT platform.”
He discussed how Heeramandi was in his mind for 14 years ever since writer Moin Baig first approached him with the script and he couldn’t get it out of his end unless he got it made. The entire process took a year and a half and it all started with the music, which he claims is very important in his films.
Additionally, Bhansali was asked about the casting for the series and he commented: “They aren’t the perfect choices for the roles and that’s what makes it more exciting because we get to see how they are going to interpret the role.
“Each of them brings something unique to each role and I have cast these women intuitively because I’ve always wanted to work with them. So they weren’t the perfect choices when I cast them, but by the end of the entire production is when I could say that they were perfect,” he added.
According to Sarandos, when he was first pitched the series, he thought to himself “I want to see this right now”. “I knew from his other work that this is something that he very uniquely could bring to screen at the size and scope and scale that he can,” he further added.
Sarandos was effusive in his praise for Bhansali and having the chance to work alongside him, stating: “That concentration on the audience is why I love working with Sanjay and why his work is so amazing because I think it’s quite easy to lose track of who and what you’re doing this for but you’ve always been clear that your work is for the audience.
“I always feel that when people go to watch a movie, they want one of 2 things, either to escape or connect, and your (Bhansali) work always beautifully does both which I think is great.”
Heeramandi will showcase the courtesans in Lahore’s Heera Mandi area and lives from three different generation and stars Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Manisha Koirala, Sharmin Segal, Sanjeeda Shaikh and Richa Chadha.
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