Making episodic content is fulfilling yet physically demanding: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Mumbai: Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is known for his unique aesthetics and storytelling, will soon make his foray into the digital space with his upcoming streaming epic ‘Heeramandi’.

While the long-format content is fulfilling for a creator or an artiste, the director feels that it is physically demanding given that the artistes have to surrender themselves to a project for a longer duration.

The ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ helmer was recently in conversation with the co-CEO of streaming giant Netflix in Mumbai where he shared his experience of working in medium of digital with long-format content.

When asked about his arrival on the digital from the world of big visually appealing spectacles, the director said: “I have made big films but shifting to digital makes it even bigger for me.”

He then went onto call ‘Heeramandi’ his biggest project so far.

He continued: “‘Heeramandi’ is my biggest project so far. For me, creating a piece of audio-visual art is to make it creative, immersive and to make it emotionally appealing and digital allows me to delve deeper.”

‘Heeramandi’ is a historical epic and tells the story of three generations of courtesans in the eponymous pre-Independence era district.

He further mentioned: “Of course, there’s another side to it about the grind, while making a 2-3 hour film is comparatively less draining, working on episodic arcs and the narrative comes with its own set of challenges and is physically demanding for any creator.”

‘Heeramandi’ will soon be available to stream on Netflix.