Ahead of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's OTT debut with web show ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’, Netflix India hosted a star-studded premiere in Mumbai on Wednesday. While the who’s who of Bollywood was present at the event, some of Bhansali's past collaborators attended the premiere and showed their support to the filmmaker.
In a series of unseen inside pictures from the premiere, shared by streaming platform on its official Instagram handle, SLB is seen posing with the likes of Salman Khan, Alia Bhatt, Rekha and more. The images were captioned, “A royal night of glitz, glamour, and grandeur (black heart emoji). Heeramandi : The Diamond Bazaar premieres 1st May, only on Netflix!”
In the first picture, SLB is seen striking a pose with his longtime collaborator Salman Khan, who was the male lead in the filmmaker's 1996 directorial debut, ‘Khamoshi: The Musical’. Salman then featured next in Bhansali's 1999 romantic musical ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, apart from making an extended guest appearance in the 2009 film, ‘Saawariya’. The actor and filmmaker twinned in black as they posed together for the camera, thereby dismissing any rumours of a tiff between them, which gained momentum after Salman reportedly walked out of Bhansali's ambitious project ‘Inshallah’.
Alia also attended the ‘Heeramandi’ premiere, and she was the female lead in Bhansali's last film, Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022). Alia is all set to reunite with the filmmaker for ‘Love & War’ in 2025, which will also star Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal. Alia and Bhansali too posed for a monochrome picture.
In other black-and-white pictures shared by Netflix, Bhansali was seen sharing candid moments with legendary actor Rekha, apart from cast members of ‘Heeramandi’ including Aditi Rao Hydari, Sonakshi Sinha, and the latter's mother, Poonam Sinha.
