Sanjay Leela Bhansali has become synonymous with extravagantly luxurious sets and her last original Netflix television series, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, is not an exception to her exclusive cinematographic style that favors extravagance, brightness and great and script. There are dazzling diamonds, ornate buildings, intricately designed sets, real antiques, but consistent ideas, well -defined characters and an attractive story are nowhere.
The spectacle of eight episodes of long starring characters such as Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sanjeeda Sheikh, Sharmin Segal, Adhyayan add and Fardeen Khan, is a story of powerful tawaifs (courtiers) of the LHORE IN-INDEPENDENCE when the The pleasure district was not only an elegant brothel, but a melting pot of arts and culture where the elite went to learn labels and refinement. These spaces served as a school to polish Nawab’s behavior, and Hearamandi of Bhansali manages to capture the social reality and emotional agitation of these women.
In its version of the elite red light area, you will meet Tawaifs of all kinds: manipulator, cunning, benevolent, disconsolate, delusional, cunning, vindictive, poetic and even rebellious. While each Tawaif has a different personality and a tragic history of its own back, which is common among these rotating dams is the misery of being confined to the “golden cage” of a life, desired by the so -called nobles of society and hypocritically ridiculed in public. Even the most powerful of these women has a vacuum inside and believes that “only death can release them,” including the protagonist of Koirala, Mallikajaan, the most influential of all, which has an opulent brothel called Shahi Mahal (Royal Palace).
Manisha Koirala plays a powerful Tawaif who has a luxurious brothel in Hearamandi
Mallikajan is perpetually intoxicated and will not avoid selling it in the blink of an eye to recover the price of a small pearl. She has the nawabs under her thumbs, is not afraid of the British and has an immense political influence. Every time Koirala appears on the screen, she brings restlessness and unpredictability, throwing the spectators to the limit. While at the beginning, his character may seem gangbai kathiawadi, Mallikajaan is not half of good heart and blatantly he has to be an idiot of a person.
While his “empire” seems infallible, things take an interesting turn when his equally powerful and cunning fareedan (Sonakshi Sinha), which was sold by Mallika at the age of nine years mind. With promoted and complex characters trying to crawl to the ground, the program establishes a powerful clash between the two formidable women.
Numerous other arches of history are working parallel: an Alamzeb (Sharmin segal) born in the brothel wants to become a poet instead of courtesan, the talented Bibbojaan (Aditi Rao Hydari) secretly works with the rebels fighting the British Raj, An opium abdication, Lajjo (Richa Chadha) has irrevocably fallen in love with a scoundrel of a Nawab, a retired nawab from London called Tajdar (Taha Shah Badussha) hates Hearamandi, but ends up falling in love with a Tawaif, the vegilious Waheedajaan (Sanjeeda Sheikh ) he wants to become becoming becoming a huzoor, and fighter Shama (Pratibha Ranta) is raising voice against his mother, who is jealous of his youth and beauty.
Sharmin Segal plays the daughter of a Tawaif who wants to become a poet instead of heramandi courtesan
Even with so many overlapping characters, on paper the script is strong and shocking, with the potential to have monitoring seasons. Unlike usual commercial cinema, there are no black and white characters; Even villains are shown in a gray light with several gradients of human emotions. The darkest characters dissect to such an extent that a look at the crushes of the emotions they left a long time ago. There is a particular scene in which Sinha’s Fards puts a magnificent nose pin in a taller Ustaad Ji (Indresh Malik), Hearamandi’s homosexual chiseo, followed by a pastor’s silence and a tsunami of emotions on his face. The scene is powerful, convincing and transmits much without words.
Similarly, there is a sincere conversation between two maiden maids in which they make fun of their initial dreams of becoming the greatest tawaif. The way even the smallest nuances of the secondary characters have been portrayed is impressive.
In the case, even the marked contrast between the colorful courts of the Tawaifs courts, and the tortuous atrocities of the British outside their luxury walls are fascinating. While there are slogans of the movement to leave the movement of India outside, the nawabs are occupied in the spree within the limits of these royal brothels, which, by the way, house some patriotic tawaifs that have played a fundamental role in the fight For freedom.
While these courtiers could not have been able to record their role in movement in the pages of selective history, the show has covered the aspect in detail. The way in which some Tawaifs would extract the subtle or seductive crucial information from the nawabs, or sometimes they would help rebels hide ammunition, has been covered through Bibbobboja de Hydari, which has once again done a fabulous job.
Sanjeeda Sheikh in a Still from Hearamandi
However, the sad thing is that Bhansali seems to have fought to adapt the script correctly for the screens. Of course, we do not refer to the larger sets than life; Complete marks there. But, while it would have been an excellent book, the series will not keep you hooked or yearning for more.
Since Bhansali has been sitting in the idea for more than a decade, the results are not up to it. There are some immensely powerful scenes and scattered in motion dialogues here and there, but the program can somehow maintain that impulse, with equally lethargic and too stretched fillings in the middle. The show would have ended easily without some unnecessary sequences.
Heeramandi also fights with the rhythm, especially towards the end. While the end is powerful in itself, the transition from seventh to the eighth episode is sudden, abrupt and feels like a hurried job. The actions are also a mixed bag. Bhansali’s choice to launch his niece Sharmin Segal as the youngest daughter of Mallikaja, Alamzeb, a heart poet, ends up damaging the show. How can anyone destroy a written character so beautifully? There are scenes in which instead of a dreamy woman in love, Segal emerges as a human lost in drugs. Even his chemistry with Tajdar feels unnatural and forced. The casting choice, which stinks to nepotism, ends up destroying one of the main characters in the series.
Fardeen Khan touches a nawab with a small screen time and only some dialogues
Richa Chadha also appears as a wrong option for Lajjo. Perhaps the fault here does not fall on Chadha, who has tried to get into the role of a loving woman who has lost her ingenuity due to the betrayal of her lover, rather her typecasting like the rogue Bholi punched Fukrey. Those familiar with Chadha’s previous work can find a challenge to see her so broken and helpless.
Bibbojaan de Aditi Rao Hydari is a balanced courtier who helps the rebels in their fight against the British raj
However, a character that left me an indelible impact was the Waheeda de Sanjeeda Sheikh. A special scream to Sheikh for doing a splendid job by playing the younger sister emotionally with mallikajaan scars. Its expressions, body language, delivery of dialogue: everything is first category. She carries the rawness of wounded femininity so successful. For some reason, this good performance of Sheikh did not really expect, which this time has been overcome. It would not be difficult to say that his twisted character could easily carry his own spin-off.
With so many actions full of energy dispersed throughout the show, it is sad to see that the general tone is submerged several times. A more clear version of the program with cleaner editions would have made the trick for me. Complete brands on production design and the message, but Hearamandi cannot maintain its extravagance beyond the surface.
The eight episodes of Hearamandi are now available to transmit in Netflix.
Qualification: 5.5/10
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