Heeramandi: Bhansali's Lavish Spectacle Fails to Charm

Welcome to Sanjay's La la land... or should we say Leela land!! After turning Mumbai's infamous Kamathipura in to Disneyland in his Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022), Bhansali time travels to the famed red light area of pre-independence Lahore and serves us Heeramandi, a kotha which has more glamour and gloss than Moulin Rouge!!

Initially conceptualised as a Hindi film featuring Kareena Kapoor, Bhansali stretched it in to an eight episodes Netflix series, probably after the OTT platform agreed to pump in some few hundred crores in to the project. The result is a visually dazzling extravaganza which lacks both, a plot as well as soul!!

Revolving around a group of rich courtesans, who live off the Nawabs as well as the British gracing their kotha for carnal pleasures, Heeramandi deals with multiple plotlines on these nautch girls from finding asli love, getting betrayed in love to their in-house dirty politics, including cold blooded murder. There is also that needless tadka of India's freedom struggle thrown in...

Sorry to say, there is zero connect with all those courtesans, who wear their hearts on their dupattas and mouth some heavy duty urdu dialogues of ishq vishq, pyaar vyaar, etc. And pray, why is Sonakshi Sinha cast in a double role, when we all know her limited acting skills. More woe, Adhyayan Suman doubles up as son as well as his dad Shekhar's younger version. Both are cast in equally thankless roles. Fardeen Khan, making a comeback after donkeys years, appears hopelessly confused and lost. The gorgeous Aditi Rao Hydari is rightly cast but not given any scope.

The only bright spot in this otherwise pheeka enterprise is Manisha Koirala, playing the toughie matriarch of Heeramandi to perfection. The lady is simply a pleasure to watch. Another standout performance comes from apni Richa Chadha as the nautch lady duped in love. Her mujra in front of her lover on his nikaah day, registers a mighty impact. Unfortunately, the rest of Heeramandi just crumbles apart!!

Ratings on some key aspects* :
1. Acting : 3/5
2. Direction : 2.5/5
3. Music : 2/5
4. Story, Screenplay and Dialogue : 1.5/5
5. Cinematography : 3.5/5
6. Editing : 2/5
7. Costume Design : 4/5
8. Special Effects and VFX : 3.5/5
9. Action : NA
10. Production Quality : 4/5

#SNRating for #Heeramandi : 2 stars out of 5.

- Sumeet Nadkarni

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* - The overall film rating is not a simple average of all ratings on key aspects but a weighted average of the ratings where some crucial aspects (like direction, acting, story and screenplay etc) are assigned more weightage than others.

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#SNRatings barometer:
1 star = Poor
1 & 1/2 star = Below average/ Avoidable
2 stars = Average
2 & 1/2 stars = Above average/ Risk it
3 stars = Good enough/ Endurable
3 & 1/2 stars = Definitely worth a watch
4 stars = Very good
5 stars = Masterpiece/ Outstanding.

2024 SNRatings. 

Authored by Sumeet Nadkarni: