Sanjay Leela Bhansali deserves excellence: Manisha Koirala

Manisha Koirala united with her ‘Khamoshi’ director Sanjay Leela Bhansali after 28 years for his first ever series – ‘Heeramandi - The Diamond Bazaar’ on Netflix. In a media interaction recently, the actress opened up about various aspects of SLB’s personality.

Talking about a change which she has observed in Bhansali, Manisha said, “I think there has only been growth that I see. Back then, he was poetic and focused, was hard working and unique in his own way, and even now. But today, he makes many layered and multiple things in his subject, thinks in a grander sense, more prettier, and everything is so more beautiful. So, I think a lot of growth has happened as a filmmaker for him and as a human being as well.”

Remembering how they did their first film together, Manisha said, “When I was working on ‘1942: A Love Story’, he was writing and assisting Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Then he got this script of ‘Khamoshi’ and directed me. So over there, what I’ve noticed about him is that he’s like this. It is much like ‘Cinema Paradiso’. It’s about a little child who grows up fantasizing about film and he’s like that. I think Sanjay has grown up. It is in his dreams, it is in his soul to kind of make brilliant films. He aspires to grow and make more and more better films, and he’s born for that. And what I see of him, he lives only in his sense. I mean, I think he just goes home to sleep and to make sure his mom is okay and he is okay. But his being is on the set, and he is constantly creating, constantly trying to improve himself. He is the most hard working person I’ve known. Even after packing up, he goes home and he writes. He is the first one on the set, and he is constantly at it. So, he gets rattled up when other people don’t match up to his level of dedication. Probably we all have other lives to live and other things to do. He doesn’t. Hi work is his sole focus. Everybody on the set of Sanjay Leela Bhansali works and gives their hundred to 100%, you know so everybody is trying to excel and you can see that in technicians and artists in every field because the man drives excellence.”

Narrating another interesting quality of her director, Manisha stated, “The other thing I noticed about him is that he is the kindest soul. We had aroud 30-40 dogs, and they all were looked after so well. I just found that only a kind soul will be so considerate. Normally, you know, people don’t care and they get irritated if some animal crosses their path. But on the sets of ‘Heeramandi’, they were taken care of. In fact, all of them were given names too. They used to walk into the frames and also, we had people looking after them. So, it was so nice to see that aspect, as well as his creative drive, his humility and the fire to excel in his art.”