Sanjay Bhansali On How The Jauhar Sequence Was Shot

Sanjay Bhansali On  How The Jauhar Sequence Was Shot “It was scorching hot and we shot with 350 junior artistes. The physical  discomforts was somehow bearable. But the challenge was  more emotional than physical. By the end of the shooting  of the  Jauhar sequence there were frayed nerves and rising tempers, ” recalls Sanjay Bhansali with a shudder.
The   shooting of the Jauhar scene went on for a week.And the  junior artistes got restless. They would meander  off in groups in-between shoots and doze off due to exhaustion. Then when the shot was ready, there would be  a head count.
Invariably Bhansali would  find some artistes missing. There would be   frantic search and they would be herded back and each was one’s hair and costume would be  personally supervised by the filmmaker.
The Jauhar scene was specially tough on  Deepika Padukone who was emotionally drained by the  end  of it.
Ranveer was  physically ill.
Recalls Bhansali, “In the shot where the women throw hot coal on Ranveer we used burning  rubber tyres to look like burning coals. Burning  rubber sends off   a very strong stench. Every time Ranveer would go into a corner to puke before doing the shot….We were all physically and emotionally exhausted  by the  time the sequence was shot. To then have  some cynics dismiss the  Jauhar sequence as regressive and socio-politically incorrect  is a huge blow to all the hard work that we all did.”