Almost in line with the Geishas of Japan the Courtesans of India were institutionalized since ancient times in Indian social fabric. They were the product of the feudal patriarchy and thrived on elite and royal patronage.
Written by Shudraka in 2nd Century BCE, the Sanskrit play Mrichhakatika is the story of the beautiful and talented Vasantasena who was a well known and well reputed Ganika or Courtesan.
In 500 BC in the Republic of Vaishali(now in Bihar) was another very well known and well reputed Nagar Vadhu or Royal Courtesan called Amrapali who enjoyed the patronage of none other than the king himself.
The Courtesans were well read and well versed in language, literature, poetry, social etiquettes and contemporary politics. Enjoying the royal patronage they were also extremely wealthy and paid huge taxes. Above all, before being introduced in public, they spent years in mastering the art of music and dance. Their years of rigorous, dedicated, disciplined riyaaz and taaleem made them connoisseurs of art. They also mastered the art of conversation which indicated that they were not only well informed but also conducted themselves with dignity and poise. They enjoyed a special position which was not available to women in general in the then guarded society.
The Courtesans prospered in stature under the Mughal rulers. They came to be known as tawaifs in Northern India( Baijis in Bengal and so on and so forth) who epitomized tameez and tehzeeb, i.e., social manners and culture. It is a recorded fact that scions of royal families were sent to be under their tutelage to learn how to conduct themselves in society. The tawaifs resided in kothas which were palatial abodes of opulence and grandeur. The kothas were frequented by the patricians and regents of the society where mehfils were held every evening and continued till wee hours of the night.
Interestingly, the tawaifs followed a matrilineal system of inheritance passing down from the mother to the daughter which led to sibling squabbles and bequeathment battles.
Kothas were also the electrifying spaces where tawaifs were the queens. They enjoyed their freedom of choosing their patrons or sometimes consorts, sired their illegitimate offsprings, were privy to secrets of the highest echelons of society and also at times took part in the palace and political conspiracies to further their and their patron’s vested interests. It is also said that some of them were imbued with the fervour of nationalism and sheltered and monetarily assisted those who rebelled against the East India Company and later the British colonial rule.
The kothas had great commercial significance as mandis or markets thrived around them and became centres of regular trade and transactions. Thus, the social, economic and political relevance and significance of the courtesans of India is an indisputable historical fact.
However, having said that it is also to be mentioned that though the courtesans were ace and respectable entertainers of their times, which did not have theatres, cinemas and other modes of creative expression as of today, there was an unerasable line of demarcation in so far as social sanction and acceptability was concerned. The courtesans were only excellent companions but could not be taken in as part of the household. Perhaps it is their availability to a number of patrons, their gender fluidity and sexual freedom which opposed the so called sense of familial respectability.
The British Imperial domination not only brought undivided India under the colonial clasp but also surged the colonies with the sensibilities of Victorian morality. To add to this the social reformists of the then Indian society, gradually awakening to Western thoughts and concepts, brought in a wave of "chastity for women" which was antithetical to the gender liberties and fluidity celebrated by the courtesans. It is the British who named the tawaifs as "nautch girls of India" and blurred the demarcation between courtesans and prostitutes. And the kothas came to be defamed as red light areas.
In a great lesson in adaptability, some of the erstwhile courtesans leveraged technology and became recorded artists and the first generation of film stars.
Heera Mandi or Heera Singh Di Mandi was established in the Shahi Mohalla of the walled city of Lahore(of undivided India) as a grain market in the 1840s by Heera Singh Dogra, son of Dhian Singh Dogra, the trusted general of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in order to facilitate local economy. It was close to the royal court and housed the courtesans or the queens of Lahore as they were called. Soon Heera Mandi became an important economic centre and the quarters of the tawaifs became more and more popular.
Based on the above cited historical facts, Sanjay Leela Bhansali(SLB), known for period dramas of cinematic grandeur, decided to make an eight hour long web series for Netflix called Heeramandi. Netflix is said to have bestowed a large portion of their production budget to SLB. And the money(in crores) spent on the Series shows.
The spectacular sets took months to contruct by craftsmen and artisans who reportedly laboured hard. The heavy jewelries wore by the actresses were all real. Richa Chaddha who plays the miniscule role of Lajwanti in the Series has been quoted saying that if she were to run away with all the adornments on her person during the shoot she could have very well got adequate fund for producing a film of her own. SLB himself said to have taken great pains in the selection and designing of the costumes, the artefacts, the tapestries, the linens, the furnitures, the props et all.
The original concept of the Series was offered to him by Momin Beg twenty years back. But SLB waited for the opportune moment to encash on it. Beg was witness to the mushairas held in his house. Though nothing was said openly in so called polite society but many dark stories were whispered about the singers who graced the concerts behind their backs. That’s how perhaps the content of Heeramandi took birth.
The narrative of Heeramandi pivots around Mallikajaan(Manisha Korala) who rules her Shahi Mahal with an iron hand. Having killed her elder sister with the help of Nawab Zulfiqar(Adhyayan Suman/Shekhar Suman) because she had sold off her son to an impotent Nawab she becomes the ruthless Huzoor or Madame of Heeramandi with a penchant for commodifying every morsel around her which has a saleable value. Having sold off her murdered sister’s nine years old daughter, Fareedan, and snatched away her marital property, Khwabgah from her, she sows the seed of a future coldblooded war for inheritance when an adult Fareedan(Sonakshi Sinha) returns years later to avenge the injustice done to her. They are now equal in conspiracy and cruelty.
There are many sub narratives and sub plots which converge at the end in the supreme realization of both Mallikajaan and Fareedan that the bigger enemy is not within but without - the Bartaniya or British Sarkar or Government. Being gang raped by the Imperial Police and left in the lurch by the Nawabs of Lahore who are more keen to show their allegiance to the Crown, Mallikajaan now sides with the rebels who want freedom from foreign rule. She is backed by the entire Heeramandi who get down to the streets equivocal with the demands of the freedom fighters - azaadi.
Even on frantically searching the net I did not find any documented fact that Heeramandi had gone into any direct confrontation with the Imperial rulers. Perhaps SLB was inspired by Azeezan Bai who had a prominent role in the Mutiny of 1857 against the fast colonizing East India Company. However, Azeezan had an ulterior motive of restoring the reign of the Nawabs so that the kothas could have a sustainable backing in the face of the encroaching colonial rulers.
What SLB has found convenient is to take all the historical masalas, grind them into a paste and churn into a curry of his own. There is inside battles of survival between Mallikajaan and Fareedan, Mallikajaan’s daughter Bibbojaan(Aditi Rao Hydari) supporting the rebels and aiding them financially, Alamzeb(Sharmin Segal), the younger daughter of Mallikajaan falling in love with the scion of a Nawab, Tajdar Baloch(Taha Shah Badussha) and not getting accepted by the Baloch Khandan being a Tawaif’s daughter, Saima, Alam’s friend and maid becoming a gramaphone artist and making a niche for herself after being sold off twice by Mallikajaan to brutally nip a romance in the bud and any form of competition with her daughter, Mallikajaan’s foster daughter Laajwanti(Richa Chaddha) becoming an alcoholic and later committing suicide because of unrequited love - you have it all.
Having such classics like Pakeezah, Umrao Jaan, Utsav, Amrapali and Mandi as referrals, SLB should have thought twice before plating a mashed up curry on an international platform. The Series is being hugely criticized for lack of orignal content, gross presentation and absence of finesse. A widely watched Pakistani Review Show has pointed out that in the scenes shot in the library a novel by renowned author Umaira Ahmed is seen at the backdrop in the rows of books which was published in 2004 as against the layout in the series which dates back to the 1920s. What a shame!
It is not easy to make a period piece which needs to be well researched and meticulously drawn out. Apart from the splendid visuals and eye catching cinematography, the Series does not boast of anything novel or spellbinding. The performance lacks lustre and is nothing more than mediocre. The dialogues are cliched and every bend in the plot predictable. The Urdu diction and faked accent are an auditory insult. Being a Web Series it is expected to come up with something deeper and more credible.
Taha Shah is promising. I wonder how he delivered the romantic lines convincingly in front of a wooden faced Shermin(SLB’s niece) who requires more than training if she does not want to prosper on favours. Indresh Mallik as the gender fluid, opportunistic Ustaadji steals the show. Sonakshi Sinha is as ugly as her character. Manisha Koirala delivered as much as her boutox stretched facials could. Farida Jalaal is such a heartthrob still even at this age.
Though the British disparaged the tawaifs as nothing but bodyselling whores SLB did a little bit more by focussing solely on the display of cleavages. All the jaans of Heeramandi seemed nothing more than decadent souls surviving on jaams staggering into each other’s paths and trying to exploit the Imperial Police who used them more. Not one single frame is devoted to sophistication which has been waylaid by sophistry. Except how to place paan in the palm of the Nawab to titivate his ardour there is not one single example of the nazaaqat showcased by the tawaifs.
This is SLB’s own Heeramandi where everything the institution of tawaifs stood for has been so gorgeously messed up crushing the expectations of the viewers that its not worth watching.