Manisha Koirala Reveals She Had 'Tears' After Rekha Praised Her For ‘Heeramandi’: She Was Offered This Role 20 Years Ago

Manisha Koirala recently collaborated with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’, which released on Netflix on May 1. The show has been getting mixed reviews but Manisha Koirala’s acting as Mallikajaan is getting praised by the audience. 

Now, in an interview with Filmygyan, Manisha recalled how Rekha praised her acting skills in the OTT show. Revealing how Rekha called her a day after watching ‘Heeramandi’, Manisha said, “I love her a lot (Rekha). She said, 'Bachcha, I was praying if I couldn't do the role, you get to do it. My prayers have come true. You have done it marvellously, you have gone through so much in life. You have added soul to the role.' To get a blessing and praise from an artist of her calibre is something else. I had tears in my eyes, and I told her, 'You are making me cry.' She loves me a lot. Rekha ji was offered this role 18–20 years ago.”

Manisha further called Rekha a “goddess” and said that she is the most graceful and poetic. The ‘Khamoshi’ actress said, “She is a great artist. Her voice, her dance, her adaa, her style, her aesthetics...she is a beautiful person. Ashok Mehta ji (cinematographer) would say about her, 'No actor can be compared to Rekha.'”

Earlier, Manisha, during a chat with Outlook exclusively praised Bhansali and had said, “He eats, breathes, and sleeps cinema and is constantly creating. He is the first one on the set and the last one to leave. For him, his life is cinema, he is constantly bettering himself, and constantly pushing him and other people to excel. We all are enamoured by his capacity, and he would manage to shock us and awe us every time.”

In ‘Heeramandi’, Manisha played the role of a courtesan Mallikajaan in the show, which is based in the red-light district of Heera Mandi in Lahore. Set in the pre-partition period of the 1920s-1940s, ‘Heeramandi’ highlights the Indian independence struggle besides the power tussle between Mallikajaan and the British officers. Besides Manisha, the show also stars Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Sharmin Segal, Shekhar Suman, Adhyayan Suman and Fardeen Khan in key roles.