Sanjay Leela Bhansali says his life is full of obstacles: ‘Even switching on a TV is difficult for me, someone has to come and do it’

Though it has been almost three weeks since director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s first-ever streaming series, the period drama Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, premiered on Netflix, the show continues to be a hot topic due to its polarising reception. While the series is earning massive praise from certain quarters for its production quality, it is also facing significant criticism for its perceived glorification of non-consensual sex, glamorisation of women’s sufferings and aestheticisation of their pain.

Meanwhile, Bhansali recently opened up about his intricate filmmaking style and also emphasised how mundane and simple tasks are very difficult for him. "My life has been full of obstacles, every day. Even switching on a TV is an obstacle for me. It's so difficult that somebody comes in and switches it on for me, but I can't get it right. I'll switch on a light and the bulb goes off. I walk into a room and the computer crashes. I have certain energies which make life very difficult for me in everything that I do," he said during a chat with Galatta Plus.

Although Bhansali is known as a "perfectionist," he remarked that true excellence is unattainable, no matter how hard one tries. "You want to find perfection? You will never find it. You want a perfect relationship? You will never find it. What you set out to find is an illusion," he added.

Stating that he doesn't want luxuries in life, Bhansali recalled that while making Devdas (2002), starring Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit in the lead roles, he lived in a small living room. "I slept on a mattress there. One day, Rekha ji, after watching Devdas, said that she wanted to meet the filmmaker. I said, 'You'll be disappointed.' Yet she came. When the door opened, she saw this small, modest place and I told her, 'I sleep here and I make my film here.' I never thought I needed a bedroom or luxury," he mentioned.