Manisha Koirala shared this image. (courtesy: m_koirala)
Manisha Koirala, who stars as Mallikajaan in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Netflix series Heeramandi, in a recent interaction with NDTV, opened up on her "second life" after battling cancer. "You said you feel like living a second life after your victory over cancer and all you experiences, tell us why you said that," Manisha was asked. The actress told NDTV, "Basically I meant...I had fourth stage of cancer and to get a chance to life (sic) after that was a second chance to life." She added, "And I wasn't sure I was going to live. I wasn't sure how long I was going to live. So that apart, in my work life...I think Heeramandi... To work in such a brilliant project with Sanjay Leela Bhansali as a director and to play this character which has so many layers, so for me it's like second life for an actor on the screen."
During her interaction with NDTV, Manisha Koirala also talked about her experience of working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali after 28 years. They have previously worked together in Khamoshi: The Musical. She told NDTV, "When I was offered this project, I was in Nepal, gardening and I was really thrilled. I waited for such a long time. It took 28 years of waiting and finally Sanjay came with a good project and I told him, Sanjay don't take another 28 years to offer me another good one. I have seen his movies after Khamosh. So much pleasure and joy it gives me to see his career graph and one after the other brilliant film he has made. At this age and stage in my life when I was offered this, I was really thrilled."
Heeramandi opened to stellar reviews. In his review for NDTV, film critic Saibal Chatterjee gave the series a 3 star rating out of 5 and he wrote, "Bhansali draws the very best out of the six principal members of the cast - Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh and Sharmin Segal."