This article refers to violence against women, sexual assault, and religious conflict. It also refers to India in both its pre-partition, and post-partition territorial extents, meaning areas and locations in modern-day Pakistan may be referred to as India.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali, one of India’s most celebrated directors, has turned his attention to Netflix with his new series Heeramandi. In the show, we follow the lives of Lahore’s tawaif, a community of courtesans who walked the line between artistry and sex work. The show touches on Bhansali’s greatest cinematic talent, centring the lives and history of India’s women. In his career, he has become renowned for his ability to cast a light on women and their stories. From his gripping epic, Padmaavat, to his electrifying Gangubai Kathiawadi, Bhansali takes women from the obscurity of the past and places them in the spotlight for an audience of millions.
His work is incredibly relevant in India today as the nation finds itself on the precipice of an election that will be won on the back of women’s votes. His films and television work also cast light on the deeply entrenched social issues that continue to impede the lives of women around the world. Heeramandi, eponymous for the neighbourhood where the show is set, especially centres the experiences of both Muslim women and women in sex work, two intersections that have featured frequently in Bhansali’s film work. By taking his audience into the lives of women on the fringes of Indian society he humanises their stories and contextualises their experiences.
Who is Sanjay Leela Bhansali?
Bollywood is known for a few great directors, Karan Johar, Yash Chopra, and Rajkumar Himari are just a few of the industry’s most celebrated. In that selective circle, Sanjay Leela Bhansali stands out as one of the most distinctive voices in Indian cinema. Bhansali is known for creating a visual spectacle with his films, standing out as a leader in cinematography.
Bhansali centres his stories around strong female characters and uses them to explore the intimate experiences of Indian women. His films have become synonymous with strong leading women, existing at intersections of India’s complex social fabric. His work has also been praised for its musical composition, centring regional dance styles from across India with remarkable detail and sensitivity. Essentially, in an industry where more needs to be done to include women’s narratives, Bhansali diverts from the norm by highlighting women. It must be said though, Bollywood just like Hollywood, needs more women in the director’s seat.
Exploring Heeramandi’s Hidden Histories
In Heeramandi we are exposed to the secretive lives of the tawaif. Tawaif were an integral part of the social fabric of India’s aristocratic system. In a similar nature to the geisha of Japan, the tawaif were perceived as highly respected performers and artisans. They typically focused on the talents of dance, singing, poetry, conversation, and playing instruments. They also engaged in financial agreements with male clients, usually having one client they would consistently be intimate with. Again, this is similar to geisha.
Tawaif have long been an integral part of Indian cinema. As trained performers, they have had large influence over the artistic landscape of India up until the rise of filmmaking began in the country. As time has progressed, especially post-independence, tawaif have become less common off-screen, but they are incredibly prevalent on-screen. Bhansali has featured tawaif in other projects of his including Devdas, and centred sex workers in several of his films.
In Heeramandi he positions the tawaif in the days just before India’s independence, centring the tawaif in the context of Lahore amidst British control. We follow the lives of a family of tawaif navigating bitter internal rivalries and jealousy that direct the arc of the story for most of the series. Heeramandi also emphasises the brutal struggle for Independence against the British that mirrors the internal conflicts within the neighbourhood of Heeramandi. It is a dynamic snapshot of cultural change and social upheaval through the lens of women’s experiences. It also powerfully dictates the realities of British colonial rule, emphasising the brutality of India’s occupation.
Bhansali and Feminism
In his work, Bhansali does not only portray women as solo entities but focuses heavily on the interpersonal relationships between women. In line with the Bechdel Test, Bhansali’s work often features men as significant in a plot, but most of his recent films have positioned them as secondary to the women leading his stories. He also often decides to portray historic, or near-historic figures, in his work. By doing this he can pull from the rich cultural and historic tapestry of India. This is possibly most true of his 2018 film, Padmaavat, which follows the 15th-century poem Padmavati’s storyline. The eponymous Padmavati is a figure of debated historical accuracy, but her legend is a significant part of shaping concepts of womanhood for Rajasthani women. In her story, Padamavati’s husband is killed in battle, she leads the women of her kingdom to commit Jauhar (meaning mass immolation).
While this may seem to be a questionable thing to centre a film around, the film’s closing scene is incredibly moving. The practice of Jauhar is a controversial one, but it is a practice that many see as an ultimate decisive choice to die instead of suffer the inevitable sexual violence that follows a kingdom being invaded. The scene, where Padmavati (played by Deepika Padukone), delivers a speech to the women of the court, is one of the most brutally empowering and emotionally visceral things I have ever watched. The same can be said of Gangubai (played by Alia Bhatt), the lead of Gangubai Kathiawadi, as she passionately advocates for fair treatment for sex workers and their children.
He writes the lives of women in ways that expose the brutal realities of their experiences without feeling like trauma porn. This is what stands out to me as making his work feel very feminist, he shows women at their lowest points and misogyny at its most acute, but he shows how resilient women are too. He highlights their intelligence, their grace, their humour, their flaws. He highlights their complexity.
Voicing Silent Issues
The work Bhansali does often has aspects of violence and conflict within his plots. This largely is because he often looks at periods with high degrees of social upheaval or unrest that drive his plots and character motivations. Within this context, he frequently holds a mirror up to sectarian divisions that are present within Indian society today, such as tensions between Muslim and Hindu communities. Again looking at Padmaavat, due to connotations of romance (non-actualised) between a Muslim man and a Hindu woman, the film was protested and Deepika Padukone was threatened with physical violence from Hindu Nationalist groups.
Heeramandi instead casts a spotlight on sectarian violence between British occupation and Lahore’s independence underground. This is new territory for Bhansali, but necessary footing for his cinematic universe. The British decimated the Indian subcontinent and committed serious atrocities for centuries there, something that we still need to have meaningful and productive conversations about. In Heeramandi he doesn’t shy away from villainising colonial rule and particularly how colonialism hurt Indian women. In Heeramandi several of the leading women interact with men from both sides of the conflict, eventually solidly joining the fight for liberation. This is especially important as the role women played in India’s independence is largely forgotten and poorly understood. Particularly in the Western World where we still struggle to even acknowledge the atrocities of European colonialism, we rarely know more than Gandhi’s role in securing India’s freedom from the British.
So, should we watch Heeramandi?
Heeramandi maintains the essential qualities that make Bhansali’s films what they are. The cinematography, musical performances, dialogue, and overarching atmosphere are the same as in his films. Heeramandi differs regarding its pacing, with more time taken to dive deeper into the tawaif that forms the show’s main cast, something that does mean it feels like a slow burn to begin with. While the pacing is slower than with his films, the show delivers on its drama and its ability to keep you engaged in the lives of the women it portrays.
Quickly you will realise that even the show’s antagonist tawaif are more complicated and layered than a typical villain. The characters of Malikajaan (played by Manisha Koirala) and Rehana (played by Sonakshi Sinha) are far more complicated and nuanced than we often get in television shows. Their motivations, decisions, and story arcs feel real and textured, they feel like complete people.
It is a show that is going to be perfect for history buffs and for those already a fan of Indian cinema. For a newbie to Bollywood however I would recommend starting with one of Bhasali’s films, personally, I would go with Goliyon Ki Raseela Ram Leela first.
