Aditi Rao Hydari has credited filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali with creating her Gajagaminee walk for Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, explaining how the filmmaker added little nuances to the move during the shoot of the Saiyaan Hatto Jaao song from the Netflix period drama series.

“I want to give the credit for this (Gajagaminee walk) to Sanjay sir. Kruti Mahesh was the choreographer and we had rehearsed the steps. But when we came on set, these additions like the dupatta falling and the walk were all his creation. I’m glad I got to be a part of his vision,” she said.

Reacting to the praise she has been receiving for the song, Aditi said she is “overwhelmed” with all the love she has been receiving on the internet. “What Sanjay Sir makes is always memorable and iconic. People talk about it a lot. It is incredibly epic and sort of legacy cinema,” the actress added.

Aditi also revealed she was willing to lose 10 kg for the shoot but Bhansali decided to go ahead with the shoot. “I was always a petite girl. Even for me this was a unique experience. Saiyaan Hatto Jaao was the first thing we started our shoot with. I was sick… I got COVID-19 and was very, very, very underweight. And everybody started feeding me. They were literally force-feeding me,” she elaborated.

The actress went on to describe the outfit trial for the song. “Sanjay Sir did a trial with me in the mujra outfit. I tried the ghagra choli and he looked at me and said ‘You put on a lil weight, na?’ And I was like ‘Give me 10 days and I’ll lose it’. He said ‘No. Let’s shoot’. And we started with the shoot.”

“I was unsure how am I going to handle myself. But in my head I was thinking, this is what Sanjay Sir wants so go with it. And now I am seeing these (reactions from people) and I’m like wow. It’s been a great learning for me as well,” added the actress, who plays Bibbojaan in Heeramandi.

Speaking about the gray shades of her character who seduces British officers to achieve her goal, Aditi said she doesn’t judge the characters she plays. “I don’t judge the characters that I play. Heroines today are way more expansive than they used to be… I think it’s important to own your sexuality. To own who you are and it’s fine what you want to do with it.”