Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Heeramandi has been receiving mixed reviews from the audiences and critics. After Vivek Agnihotri criticised the show for glorifying courtesans and brothers, its co-director Snehil Dixit Mehra has asked him to watch the show first.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus Heeramandi has been receiving mixed reviews. While one section of the audience is praising the show for its technical aspects and grandeur, the other half is criticising it for performances and dragged screenplay. When a Pakistani doctor bashed the show, set in the Lahore of the 1920s to 1940s, on X (formrly known as Twitter) for its historical inaccuracies, Vivek Agnihotri agreed with them and called out the show for its glorification of courtesans and brothers.
"I haven’t seen the show, but I have visited Heeramandi in Lahore a few times. Bollywood has this tendency to romanticize courtesans and brothels. It’s a sad commentary because brothels have never been places of opulence, glamour or beauty. These are monuments of human injustice, pain and suffering. Those unfamiliar with this should watch Shyam Benegal’s Mandi. Also, a question we must ask: Does creativity give us the freedom to glamorize human suffering? Is it okay to make a film where slum life is depicted as a life of abundance? Is it okay to portray slum dwellers wearing clothes as if they are attending an Ambani wedding?", Vivek wrote.
Now, Snehil Dixit Mehra, who has worked as a co-director on the show, has reacted to the filmmaker's criticism and asked him to watch the show first. Speaking to News18, she said, "I believe that he hasn’t seen the show. Heeramandi isn’t about the glorification of tawaifs. The show is set against the backdrop of the 1920s and the 1940s. At that time, tawaifs were ruling the roost."
"We did extensive research before making the show. There was an insight that we found during our research which was that these tawaifs were so rich that even when they fudged their numbers, they were paying more taxes than the nawabs. At that time, girls belonging to legitimate families were kept in purdah and weren’t allowed to get taalim. But tawaifs had taalim on everything – they could learn art, read and write.They had a very powerful position in the society. With the freedom struggle and British trying to break the nautch girls, they lost their dignity in the process. This is the story we’ve chosen to say. It’s not about the glorification of the tawaifs; it’s just what the story is. He (Agnihotri) should watch the series first to understand what we’re trying to convey", she concluded.
Starring Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal, Richa Chadha, and Sanjeeda Shaikh in the leading roles, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar is now streaming on Netflix. The show is estimated to have been made on a whopping budget of Rs 200 crore.
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 "Snehil Dixit Mehra-Heeramandi-Vivek Agnihotri/Instagram")
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