Heeramandi’s Indresh Malik says Sanjay Leela Bhansali gave him this gift as a token of appreciation after his nath scene

Actor Indresh Malik, who played the role of Ustaad ji on the Netflix series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, said that he “howled” after he performed the nath sequence on the show, which led to filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali rewarding him with Rs 500 as a token of appreciation for his moving performance. For the unversed, Indresh played the role of a queer man in the series. The actor, in an interview with Times Now, said that when Sanjay Leela Bhansali narrated the scene to him, he had “tears” in his eyes even though the scene itself had no dialogue.

He said, “The scene for my character felt like, there was someone who accepted me, the one who gave me warmth. Wearing nath means gaining respect. That moment when the scene was done, I was crying for almost five minutes or more. I can't cry silently, so I howled. I was howling and crying like a child, there was a pin-drop silence.”

The actor added, “He said, ‘Dekho, rota jaa raha hai, itna achaa toh kiya (Why are you crying, you did so well)'. Then he hugged me and gave me Rs 500 on the sets as a token of appreciation. I kept thinking about the character and that carried on for five minutes."