Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Heeramandi Gets A Season 2: 'Women Now Come From Lahore To Film World'

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar has been making headlines since it was released on Netflix on May 1. The series marked Bhansali’s debut in the OTT world and quickly became all that people could talk about. This led to the question: will there be a Heeramandi season 2? Good news for the show’s fans, Netflix has greenlit the second season.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali told Variety, “It takes a lot to make a series. This one has taken a lot. After ‘Gangubai’ released in February 2022, from that to now every single day I have worked without a break. So the responsibility is huge on the series.”

“In Heeramandi 2, the women now come from Lahore to the film world. They leave Lahore after the partition and most of them settle in the Mumbai film industry or Kolkata film industry. So that journey in the bazaar remains the same. They still have to dance and sing, but this time for the producers and not for the nawabs. So that’s the second season we are planning, let’s see where it goes,” Bhansali added.

This comes as a surprise to fans after Bhansali had previously said that no one can make Heeramandi again, even him. In the latest featurette released on IMDB, Sanjay Leela Bhansali took the viewers on a tour of the set of the grand series, talking about its grandeur and what went on to make the series. However, he also said that it was a taxing process and added, “We’ve made it, I’ve enjoyed making it, and I’m thankful to God that we made it… It was a very difficult project. Nobody else will ever be able to make Heeramandi again, nor will I be able to make it again, because it happens once.”

Bhansali said that he has had the idea for the series in his mind for over 20 years. He added, “After every film, Heeramandi would come out. But I would say, it’s too vast, it’s too epic to be made into a two-hour film. Finally, the time came and we said, let’s make it into a series because that will do justice to the vastness of it.” The idea then was to make ‘three big-sized, four big-sized films’ in one series.

Heeramandi features Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Richa Chadha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sanjeeda Sheikh and Sharmin Segal as tawaifs in the pre-Independence era Lahore, fighting for survival and respect. Shekhar Suman, Fardeen Khan, Adhyayan Suman, Taha Shah Badusshah and Indresh Malik also play pivotal characters in the series.