Aditi Rao Hydari opened up recently that Sanjay Leela Bhansali kept her hungry for a day to do a scene in the period-drama series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. She was struggling to do some sequences which involved her character, Bibbojaan giving some rousing speeches as part of the story.

In an interaction with The Hollywood Reporter India, Aditi said that giving speeches doesn’t really come naturally to her and she was facing difficulties in acting for the scenes. “Sanjay sir kept me hungry for a day and I did it happily as it really helped me. Being hangry helped. I was really struggling and he was like, ‘She will now start a love scene. She has to do an intense scene which will going to look like a shringaar scene. So, go and don’t eat.’ I was very happy after doing it. I thanked him so much.”

Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar is set in pre-independent India against the backdrop of the freedom movement and tells the story of the courtesans, the nawabs, and the British, and the tussle for power amongst them. Also starring Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Taha Shah, Fardeen Khan, and Shekhar Suman in pivotal roles, the series premiered on Netflix on May 1.