Richa Chadha shed real tears during her solo kathak performance to Masoom Dil Hain Mera song in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, the actress revealed, sharing a behind-the-scenes shooting clip on Monday.

“The tears are real… so you see Tanuja removing the remains of running mascara from under my eyes… tell me what did you think of that last shot of Lajjo dancing,” the 37-year-old actress wrote alongside the video on Instagram.

Richa, who plays the role of Lajjo in the Netflix period drama, sports a green anarkali by Rimple and Harpreet in the video and a makeup artist is seen adding finishing touches to her face and hair. The actress also revealed that it had taken her two hours to prepare her hair and makeup for the shoot.

The actress also played with puppies on the set in between shooting breaks to relieve stress. “The cute doggies on set were the best stress busters… you see here me cuddling with the best baby puppers on a break, and our set favourite Bagheera taking a lap ride with Ashis,” she wrote.

Fans flooded the comments section with their love for the actress’s portrayal of Lajjo. “How heartbreakingly beautiful is your portrayal of Lajjo. Lovelorn but not defeated, helpless but not hopeless, broken but not in spirit. You made all of us feel deeply, Richa,” one of them wrote, while another commented, “Your portrayal as Lajjo is beautiful and something that we can’t describe in words. The last dance of yours makes us all cry.”

Previously, Richa had talked about how the late Meena Kumari’s peerless performance in Bollywood classic Pakeezah (1972) was a big influence on her performance in Heeramandi. She had also opened up about referencing the song Ye Kya Jagah Hai Doston from Rekha’s 1981 musical Umrao Jaan in her kathak performance.

Marking Bhansali’s OTT debut, Heeramandi follows the stories of love, passion, freedom and betrayal experienced by courtesans living in Lahore’s oldest red-light district. Set against the backdrop of British-ruled India, the web series shows how the courtesans found themselves entangled in a constant power struggle with the anti-colonial movement on the rise.

Also starring Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal and Sanjeeda Shaikh, Bhansali’s period drama show is currently available to stream on Netflix.