Sanjay Leela Bhansali Reveals He Couldn't Fulfil His Father's Last Wish Of Hearing Reshma’s Hayo Rabba

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, known for his opulent cinematic creations, has now ventured into the realm of web series with the grandiose Netflix production, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, set in pre-partition Lahore. Reflecting on his journey in a recent interview, Bhansali fondly recalled his roots, attributing his passion for art and cinema to his father’s influence. He also recalled his father’s last wish before dying which he could not fulfil.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s father, Navin Bhansali, was a producer who never found success in films. In a conversation with the New York Times, Bhansali cherished a poignant memory: his father’s dying wish to hear Reshma’s soul-stirring rendition of Hayo Rabba. Sanjay said that Reshma was known for her ‘raw, untrained’ voice and chose to stay in Pakistan after India’s partition. Bhansali added that his family’s heritage is also traced back to Pakistan.

Bhansali added that by the time he returned with the cassette, his father had already slipped into a coma. He said, “I had no place to play Hayo Rabba, and my mother kept saying, ‘Play Hayo Rabba!’…Life is so fascinating. Can films ever capture this?”

Bhansali also recalled that once when he was six years old, his father took him to a film set. That’s when he realised, “I don’t want to be on the cricket ground, I don’t want to be in school, I don’t want to be anywhere. I want to be here. This is my place.”

Meanwhile, on May 1, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s web series, Heeramandi, was released on Netflix. It stars Sonakshi Sinha, Richa Chadha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Manisha Koirala, Sharmin Segal, Taha Shah Badussha, Farida Jalal, Shruti Sharma, Jayati Bhatia, Nivedita Bhargava, Adhyayan Suman, Shekhar Suman, Fardeen Khan and Vaishnavi Ganatra, among others.

News18 gave the series 4.5/5 stars. Our review read, “Bhansali pens a near-perfect screenplay and it is this rich writing that already forms an impressive foundation for the show. Each character is written with a lot of courage, empathy and sensitivity. Here, each female character is so well-fleshed out, including those in the periphery, that they all deserve a spin-off of their own.”

“Apart from his masterful storytelling through maximalist aesthetic including the creation of some poetic vignettes where each frame appears to be a stunning piece of oil painting, Bhansali has also earned the affection and admiration of several film connoisseurs for his presentation of elaborate dance sequences. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he has single-handedly kept the tradition of song-and-dance alive in Hindi cinema at a time when realism has been striving to take over. And so, Heeramandi doesn’t disappoint either. Sakal Ban is a gorgeous representation of the beauty and sisterhood that resides in Heeramandi. In fact, each of the woman, has a mujra sequence and all of them are mesmerising pieces,” the review also read.