Deep Dive: Bhansali’s Heeramandi

OutlookIndia

Unveiling Bhansali's Cinematic Obsession through his recent Netflix release Heeramandi and previous works -- Aesthetic Glamour vs. Forgotten Realities  In Video: Rani Jana  Follow us: Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outlookindia/ X: https://twitter.com/Outlookindia Whatsapp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNrF3v0AgWLA6OnJH0R Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlookMagazine Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/outlookindia  #Heeramandi #SanjayLeelaBhansali #Cinema #Netflix #DeepDive

Transcript

00:00 Heeramandi and Gangu by Kathiawadi, Bhansali's recent productions have glamorised courtesans and sex workers.

00:07 Even his previous productions involve characters who are tawaifs or sex workers.

00:12 In fact, both terms in Bhansali's cinematic universe are interchangeable at this point.

00:17 Welcome to Deep Dive with Outlook.

00:19 In today's segment, we will be looking at Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his obsession with tawaifs and aesthetics.

00:25 Chandramukhi from Devdas, Gulabji from Savariya and even Mastani, who is actually a princess,

00:31 dances to Diwani Mastani in the roop of a tawaif.

00:35 So, what is common in all these characters?

00:38 Their roop, gurur and the aesthetic mould that Bhansali has placed them in.

00:43 The obsession with aesthetics and glamour is not limited to his larger-than-life sets

00:48 but extends to the characters, placing them as mere objects in scenes.

00:53 Alamzeb does not cry when her lover Tajdar dies.

00:56 The confrontations between Mastani and Kashibai have them speaking in the most calm and composed manner possible.

01:03 Their struggles, their pain is often refused to mere ornamentation in Bhansali's grand narrative.

01:10 It seems like Bhansali's fixation on aesthetics has overshadowed a genuine exploration of plot and characters.

01:17 In 2022, Outlook visited Kamathipura. The kothas no longer resonate with the beats of tablas, gungroos and ghazals.

01:25 Instead, the revitalisation of the area was in order to make it more family-friendly and commercially mainstream.

01:32 Sex workers who owned or rented tiny apartments were not invited to discuss this redevelopment agenda.

01:38 Bhansali's most recent production, Heera Mandi, is supposed to portray the contribution of tawaifs in the freedom struggle.

01:45 However, except for Bibojan's character, the other tawaifs were engulfed in familial rivalry.

01:52 In the 1920s, Vidyadhari Bai, a tawaif from Bihar, organised other tawaifs to attend Gandhi's speech,

01:59 leading to their involvement in the non-cooperation movement.

02:02 They formed the Gayaka Sangh to promote social and moral reform among tawaifs.

02:07 In Bhansali's cinematic universe, aesthetics reign supreme, leaving little to no room for the complexities of plot and characters to truly shine.

02:16 shine.

02:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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