Alia Bhatt offered Sanjay Leela Bhansali to do ‘Heeramandi’ for free

Hyderabad: Alia Bhatt seems to have been deeply attached with stories around Heera Mandi after acting in the film ‘Kalank’. Well now, the actor, who is all geared up for her upcoming film ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’, wanted to be part of ‘Heeramandi’ at any cost.

The actor, who seems quite eager to take up ‘any role’, told filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali that she’d do the job for free. “Give me a role, any role, in ‘Heera Mandi’ and I will do it for free(sic),” ‘Bollywood Hungama’ quoted a source as saying.

Although it was a creamy offer, Sanjay Leela Bhansali refused to take it up. Alia will now be a part of ‘Heeramandi’, though she will be paid her market price, he apparently said. “It’s not like Amitabh Bachchan who refused to charge a penny for ‘Black’ because the producers couldn’t afford to pay him his price. Netflix is the producer of ‘Heeramandi’. Every actor is being paid his or her full price,” a source said.

‘Heeramandi’ is set in Lahore of pre-independent India. It will tell the stories of the courtesans of Heera Mandi. The Netflix original mega series, which is going to mark Bhansali’s digital debut, will have seven episodes and the first episode will be directed by Bhansali. The rest of the six episodes will reportedly be directed by Vibhu Puri, while Bhansali will supervise the project.
…