Sanjay Leela Bhansali brushes off the 'taskmaster' label given to him by actors: 'Because I won’t let them go to their vans ...'

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has earned the reputation od being a hard ‘taskmaster’ on sets as a filmmaker. While several actors have shared their accounts of working with the filmmaker and how he works them to the extreme to make the ‘magic’ happen, they also have immense respect for his love for the craft and how he envisions his projects.

Coming out with his next project Heeramandi , Sanjay Leela Bhansali has now reacted to being called a ‘taskmaster’ by actors and the reputation that he is difficult to work with at a press event recently held in Mumbai. Sanjay said that he is not temperamental or a taskmaster and blamed the media for projecting such a reputation. He did admit that he works his actor to a limit but also said that actors call him a ‘taskmaster’ because he doesn’t let them go to their vans till they have found the ‘precious moment’ for a shot.

Sanjay while replying to a question during a media interaction for Heeramandi said, “I’m not a task master, it’s the image the media has built upon me that I’m difficult to work with and that I’m temperamental. We just sit over there and find a moment which emerges out of discussion and conversation which means that I use their mind and they use my mind, we all get together and that moment of magic comes to us, which I then take credit for and say that I created the magic.”

He further added, “But the fact is that it’s everybody’s mind. It is that moment that you wait for, and it comes after a lot of hard work and focus, commitment and conviction. They call me a task master because I won’t let them go to their vans until I find that moment. That moment is very precious to all of us and it doesn’t come through me, it comes because of everyone.”

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s films enjoy their own space in Bollywood while promising visual appeal and nuanced performances. His films like Gangubai Kathiawadi, Padmaavat, Goliyon Ki Rasleela … Ramleela, Baji Rao Mastani, Black and others have done particularly well at the box office making Sanjay one of the most sought after filmmakers by actors.

The filmmaker is now making his digital debut with Heeramandi which will air on Netflix as a series and stars Aditi Rao Hayadri, Sonakshi Sinha, Manisha Koirala, Richa Chadha, Sharmin Segal, and Sanjeeda Sheikh.