Sonakshi Sinha played Fareedan in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi. (Photo Credits: Instagram)
Sonakshi Sinha had a hilarious reaction to her Heeramandi co-stars getting married and pregnant while she is still single.
Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sonakshi Sinha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, and Sharmin Segal, all featured in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi, were recently guests on The Great Indian Kapil Show. During their appearance, the actors reminisced about their time working with Bhansali and shared their experiences. Host Kapil Sharma entertained with his sharp wit, eliciting particularly humorous responses from Sonakshi Sinha, which had everyone laughing.
When Kapil brought up Alia Bhatt and Kiara Advani’s weddings as a segue to question Sonakshi about her own marriage plans, Sonakshi responded playfully, saying, “Jale par namak chidak rahe ho,” indicating that his question was adding salt to her wounds, as she ‘desperately’ wishes to get married.
She continued, “We’ve finished shooting Heeramandi and here I am, still not married. Even Sharmin got married.” Manisha then chimed in, highlighting, “And Richa, she got married and even became pregnant.”
Richa Chadha humorously remarked, “It was good preparation for me. My costumes in the film weighed 30 kilos. But when it came time for my wedding attire, they felt weightless in comparison. I could easily jump around and play; they felt so light.”
Sharmin Segal wed Aman Mehta in November 2023. Sharmin, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s niece, portrayed the character of Mallikjaan’s daughter, Alamzeb, in Heeramandi. Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal were legally married in 2020 and celebrated their wedding in grand style in 2022. In February 2024, the couple shared the joyful news that they are expecting their first child.
Heeramandi is set against the backdrop of the pre-Independence era in the 1940s. It explores the cultural reality of a prominent red-light district through the lens of courtesans and nawabs. The series boasts a star-studded cast, including Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, and Sharmin Segal.
News18 gave Showsha 4.5 stars and wrote, “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.”
It further read, “With Heeramandi, Sanjay Leela Bhansali creates a world that’s exquisite and is rich and vibrant in its culture and texture. Inhabiting this realm are some characters that are as unapologetic, complex, and imperfect as a human can be. Here, the women call their own shots and is unafraid of what the civil society might think of them. They’re pitted against each other, sometimes one even wishing for and conspiring against another’s downfall and shattering their self-worth, pride and ego. They can tear apart and even love like tigresses. And when the right time comes, they don’t bat an eyelid before fiercely protecting one another. Despite deep and dark ambition plaguing their hearts, they’ve their conscience clear. Maybe that’s why Fareedan in a scene reprimands a British officer for robbing her aunt Mallikajaan off her ‘aabru’ when all she wanted was for her to have her ‘guroor’ crumbled.”
