As person who finds myself an outcaste of society I feel this analysis of the show is very personal to me.
Why I am talking about it?
Recently Netfilx has made an amazing series called Heeramandi or Diamond Bazaar, telling the story of a troop of courtesans in Lahore modern day Pakistan. A courtesan’s life is sensuality, performance and intrigue through and through, a perfect and emotionally charged setting for depicting the struggle for the freedom of India from British colonialism. I have thoroughly enjoyed the show as a story, being emotionally full and beautiful until the very end. But beyond the surface level there is a beautiful meta story that can be extracted from the show. A story of a class of people who nobody needs but everybody wants(depicting both modern woman and the early modern courtesan) , a story of revolutionary decolonial struggle crossing over with a story of a “lower” class within the colonial lower class and a story of feminine liberation.
The story begins with the introduction of characters, all of which are divided into groups with size based on proximity to the center of the story. Our main character through this story, or rather the most followed character in the first half of then story is Alamzeb, daughter of the courtesan Malikajaan who loves poetry and hates her mothers job of courtesan. From the beginning we are shown the status quo and how the courtesans of heeramandi are birds in gilded cages. Within the cage they may be king, same as the Nawabs, outside it they have no power.
To begin our analysis let us first dissect the intrigues, the primary vehicle of conflict in the show. On the basic layer which we are first introduced to in the show, there is the heeramandi, a house of courtesans hosted at Shahi mahal presided over by a harsh but caring mother figure, Malikajaan. Beneath her are her so-called children although the exact nature of their relationships are not known, tho are Waheeda, Bibojaan, and Alamzeb. Further Waheeda has a daughter named Shama. Waheeda seeks to somehow topple the authority of Malikajaan. In this intrigue, her daughter Shahi’s placed as a neutral, unaware figure. Next we have the outsider, Fareeda who seeks revenge on Malikajaan for past crimes.
Then there is the second layer. The layer of the colonial struggle. Bibbojaan, almost second in command at the Shahi Mahal secretly without the other courtesans knowing , supports a group of rebels who set to overthrow British rule through violent action.
Singing slogans of Inquilab Zindabad with them is a wealthy Nawab’s son named Tajdar.
The story begins in earnest when tajdar meets alamzeb and a love story begins there. A nawab whose education has been foreign, who is well versed in English, to such a man, the lower class is an alien object of fascination. So we do not quite know whether the nawabs love for Alamzeb is born of this desire or genuine feelings, perhaps a mix of both.
Here we are introduced to our antagonist, The British. They are here depicted differently than most media with the beginning depicting the British as being on the level of the nawabs, just another ruler or conqueror, nothing special, when the truth could be farther from.
At first the intrigues are just spats between courtesans, matters of stealing clients and such. But then the second half of the story begins. We learn here very clearly the power relations. The British and the nawab are both higher than the courtesans who, as long as their cunning and beauty lasts control these higher groups. It is an empowering first half for sure.
But as the story goes on, Fareedan teams up with Waheeda to stomp out Malikaajaans authority, which is where the troubles begin. We have been carefully taught about the power balance and the status quo established here, like in a Mexican standoff where three men point their guns in the midday heat waiting hormone to shoot first, the first shot rings out at this moment. Things begin spiralling. In taking down malikaajaan, Heeramandi and Bibojaans secrets are close to coming out so Bibbojaan retires. With this, Bibojaan’s income which she used to donate to the revolutionaries stops, which subtly forces them to act more daringly. At this time the love story between tajdar and Alamzeb begins to strain as Tajdar is forced to choose between county and dame, where he chooses both only to later lose both. As Farheedan finds a link to get Malikaajaan, she gets close to the British police officer Samuel Henderson to get her arrested over a long forgotten murder case. As this investigation begins to take shape, heeramandi and those who frequent it come under closer British attention leading to Tajdar and his plot beginning to be discovered but Tajdar pays little heed and continues to divide his focus between Alamamzeb and the revolution.
Tensions are raised to the maximum until its all let loose as Malikaajaan is arrested on false pretences, Tajdar’s plots discovered and now once the deed has been done, untold cruelties are inflicted on both detainees, with Malikajaan being raped and Tajdar killed. Finally, Farheedan learns her mistake and sides with Malikajaan, who is now broken. As all this comes to light past intrigues fades away. The real, hidden power structure comes to light. A structure with the British at the top, holy in heaven and everyone else bickering and writhing in the same pit of hell as their neighbour. Nawab, courtesan or beggar, all the same to the coloniser, their distinctions only clear internally.
As this revelation comes to light, the storys revolutionary colours start to come out with all parties, once separate and at each others throat, slowly uniting against the collective threat of the British, all arising from not one single event, like the sacrifice of Tajdar or some other specific event but the sum total of a million indignities.
Bibbojaan decides to sacrifice herself and shoot the British officer of Lahore at a public ceremony. This scene being important because the officer rants on about how Hitler and his abominations are at India’s and the world’s doorstep and that for liberty and freedom, Indians must fight for Britain. Te irony here is evident. Millions dead of war, famine and mismanagement under British colonialism , yet Hitlers few million Jews are greater than Britains hundreds of millions Indians dead. Not to compare death tolls but the fact is that freedom is for everyone. Man is built for the open plains, not the gilded cage of either, government, society, patriarchy or any other oppressor. To replace the British government with Indian government means just changing the colour of the cage. And with that the shot rang out. Bibojaan was captured and set to be hanged.
At this all the tensions that had been boiling at constant temperature finally erupted. Nawab, courtesan, revolutionary, all united began a march, a march for their freedom only to be met by British bayonets. The end of the story is left ambiguous. Maybe it’s better that way. Like Camus said, one must imagine sisyphus happy and so we must assume a good ending even if we know, from historical precedent, stories and records, it probably was not.
Overall Heeramandi tells a powerful story of liberation and even though the intent is to depic woman’s liberation the message can easily be applied for any oppressed class.That is the beauty of a story of liberation, it’s relatability. As the courtesan’s walked with nawab and poor to destroy the common enemy who puts cages over us, modern humans, men, women, and all other oppressed must walk together as one to defeat the forces that keep us in cages.
You should care because…
I feel that those of us who are outcastes in society may relate to this and understanding your plight and seeing another’s escape will only inspire your own path to liberation