Sanjay Leela Bhansali reflects on fulfilling his father’s last wish through Heeramandi’s song: “I had no place to play ‘Hayo Rabba’”

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is one filmmaker who has always mesmerized the audience with his marvellous cinema, and the evidence of the same is well witnessed in his debut web show on Netflix, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. The 8-episode series has just been released and is winning the hearts of the audience with the mesmerizing world created by SLB.

Well-studded with aesthetically enriched massive sets, enthralling visuals, amazing dialogues, brilliant cinematography, and of course amazing music, the show is indeed SLB’s treat to the global audience. As much as the filmmaker is brilliant at weaving emotions on the screens, he indeed has a moment about his father Navin Bhansali’s last wish of listening to the song ‘Hayo Rabba’.

When SLB’s father Navin Bhansali, a producer who never made it, was on his deathbed, he had a peculiar request. He dispatched his son to get a cassette of a tribal singer who, after India was split, had ended up on the other side, where their own family had roots.

He wanted to hear the song ‘Hayo Rabba’ by Reshma — a voice raw, untrained.

By the time young Sanjay returned with the cassette, his father was unconscious. He stood there watching his dilated eyes — a scene that still plays out in his mind.

“He had gone into a coma,” Mr. Bhansali said. “I had no place to play ‘Hayo Rabba,’ and my mother kept saying, ‘Play ‘Hayo Rabba’!”

Why that song? The closest he comes to an answer is that in his father’s state of hallucination, he was connecting with his ancestors.

“Life is so fascinating,” he said. “Can films ever capture this?”

Helmed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar is an eight-part series released across 190 countries on Netflix on May 1.

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