EXCLUSIVE | Shekhar Suman: 'Hope Netflix releases Heeramandi in theatres, was offered Devdas opposite Shah Rukh Khan by Sanjay Leela Bhansali but...'

Bollywood star Shekhar Suman has been a prominent part of the entertainment industry for over four decades. Right from films to television, he has enthralled the audience in almost all possible mediums. It’s now time for him to do the same on OTT as his series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar is now streaming on Netflix. Here, Suman essays the role of Zulfikar. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the actor opened up on working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, his son Adhyayan Suman’s comeback, and what the future holds for him as an actor.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

Four decades after Utsav comes another grand project for you as an actor. How does it feel?

Oh, it’s wonderful, it’s surreal, it’s overwhelming, it’s exhilarating, the clock is turning the full circle. And even though I had to wait for years for something like this to happen, it has happened eventually. And I feel this is another milestone, which I’ll be proud of, you’re not an actor if you haven’t worked with Mr. Bhansali, or you’re not a happy actor, you’re not an accomplished actor if you’re not worked with Mr. Bhansali, so I got this opportunity finally and well, it’s been a beautiful journey and I look forward to the acceptance and success of Heeramandi.

Working with your son Adhyayan Suman who is about to begin the 2nd innings of his career, how proud are you?

I’m extremely, extremely proud of Adhyayan and I don’t consider it his second innings. I think he’s still with the first innings, there are ups and downs in your career and anyone’s career. But he didn’t sort of get the right opportunity. So I would just say he was waiting in the wings for the right things to happen. It’s not that a career got stalled and then now he’s restarting, it’s nothing like that. He was just waiting for the right film, for the right venture to happen. And it has. And I’ve seen him work so hard and wait so patiently and he never gave up hope. He had faith in himself, he believed in God and the doors have finally opened, so I’m extremely, extremely proud of him.

It would have been great to see you as Chunilal with Shah Rukh Khan in Devdas. What happened?

It would have been nice if I had done that role but they say that in life, you can’t have it all. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Regret, but no regret.

It’s a massively mounted series that brims with opulence. Will people enjoy it as much on their mobiles and television screens the way they would’ve enjoyed on the big screen?

That was my major reaction and my initial feeling that such a hugely and massively mounted series, which you rightly said, is brimming with opulence, if people will enjoy on their phones and television sets as much as they would’ve on the big screen. In a way, no. That scale and opulence cannot be matched on the small screen. But it’s a Netflix series so we have to do it with the smaller one, but I’m also hoping Netflix decides to release it theatrically and it can be done. I hope they take the wise decision to release it in theatres.

Post Heeramandi, what are your upcoming projects, what are the kind of roles you are looking for?

I don’t know what’s in store for me post Heeramandi. I don’t have the gift of the prophecy, so I can’t decide the future. What I have decided is that I won’t do anything mediocre. It has to be something challenging, it has to be different, it should be something I haven’t done before.