Bhansali’s perceptive eye to visualise actors beyond the familiar is something his leading ladies thrive on. Sonakshi Sinha, who was last seen as a feisty cop in Dahaad, is an example. In the upcoming series, she plays the crafty and power-obsessed Fareedan, who is on the path to avenge the wrongs done to her by Mallikajaan and, in the process, staking her claim on Heeramandi. “A good director makes you lose yourself in the character and his vision. No one had given me a part like this, and I am grateful that he saw me as this megalomaniac character,” she says, adding that the digital medium has liberated her enough to take risks without the dictates of box-office demands.

Similarly, the lovelorn and alcoholic Lajjwanti is “diametrically opposite” to any character Chadha has essayed before. “Mr Bhansali suggested that I look at Meena Kumari’s life for inspiration. And, there was so much grief. I used her personal trajectory to understand someone who is on the verge of self-destruction,” she says adding, “I tried to get the tone of her voice—the intonation where you can feel the pain and rawness—right.

I wanted to evoke the feeling of surrender and defeat that poets wrote about.” Heeramandi is not the first story on celluloid about the life of courtesans. Films such as Pakeezah, Umrao Jaan, Devdas, Amar Prem and Muqaddar Ka Sikander have all romanticised the tawaif as a tragic figure, destined to a life of loneliness. That, however, has resulted in a judgemental,undertone, feels Chadha. “I play a character who has no agency, but she is still humanised for whatever she stands for. It is important to put an end to the stigma that comes attached to being a certain type of woman,” she adds.

Sanjeeda Sheikh plays the temperamental Waheeda, and Sharmin Segal is Alamzeb, a budding poet, who does not want to be part of Heeramandi’s legacy. “I loved the unpredictability in Waheeda. Isolated and childlike were my keywords for her,” says Sanjeeda. Sharmin further adds, “It is also a social commentary. The country was on the cusp of change and its history is seen through the eyes of women who were fearless in the face of adversity.” This is Bhansali’s world, and women are running the show here.