The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its divisive and polarizing figure, Narendra Modi, have been pedaling hate and promoting fake films like The Kashmir Files, The Kerala Story, Razakars, etc. Following this wretched line of thought, actor turned BJP leader Shekhar Suman and the eternally lecherous filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, as part of a conspiracy, have taken up Islamophobia in a big way. Shekhar Suman and Bhansali have come out with an 8-part web series called Heeramandi on Netflix, which was released on May 1, 2024. They have maligned the Muslim women’s character and the Muslim Nawabs’ reputation, painting them as sex maniacs.
In the web series set in the pre-independence days, at the center of the story is a biting rivalry between the powerful Mallikajaan and Fareedan, played by Sonakshi Sinha, the daughter of her old archnemesis, whom she strangled to death years ago. Mallikajaan is depicted as a murderer. Fareedan returns to Heeramandi to avenge her mother’s murder. She is armed with a determined plan to dethrone the queen. Around them, the other Tawaifs (courtesans)—Mallikajaan’s daughters, siblings, and friends—come to terms with their own futile hopes and desires for self-realization and freedom as courtesans.
Since its release, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar has been slowly but surely making notorious noises for various vulgar reasons. In a recent interview, Jason Shah, who played the role of villainous British cop Alistair Cartwright, opened up shamelessly about shooting the rape scene with Mallikajaan, aka Manisha Koirala.
Bhansali, 61, has brought disrepute to the film industry for more than three decades with morally- deceiving films like the drunkard Devdas, which show the Bengalis in a drunkard light. Bhansali could not make a film on the intellectual class of Bengalis. He chose to stoop with a film on a drunkard. The 2022 film Gangubai, which had Alia Bhatt as an alluring prostitute, took the audience into the world of Mumbai’s disreputed red light district. Bhansali rejoices at the imperfections of the unfortunate women who make money like the heartless pimps. “I want to give dignity to women, which sometimes is taken for granted in our society,” pretends Bhansali. Is making prostitutes out of disadvantaged women giving ‘dignity’ to them? Ask Vaibhavi Merchant, Bhansali’s one-time lover, how much ‘dignity’ Bhansali had given her. Why was the wedding cancelled after the cards were printed? What was Bhansali doing with the extra artist before being confronted by Vaibhavi Merchant?
In Heeramandi, there are six female protagonists—all of whom Bhansali describes as the “queens of Lahore.” The locale of Lahore has been deliberately chosen to mock Muslim lives, showing them as morally corrupt. Why was Varanasi not chosen? It may be noted that this is the first time that Shekhar Suman and his son, actor Adhyayan Suman, are seen together in a project. It may be recalled that Sekhar Suman had accused fellow BJP leader and his son Adhyayan’s mistress, Kangana Ranaut, of performing black magic using her menstrual blood after the duo had called it quits! So much for the Sanghi Sanskaar! Like a father, like a son. Shekhar Suman played the role of Nawab Zulfikar in the web series. Adhyayan is seen as the young Nawab Zorawar, the younger version of his father’s character. The Nawabs are portrayed in a very poor light!
Sekhar Suman acts out as a drunk Nawab who performed oral sex in midair. “I said, ‘In this life, nothing is too bizarre; I’ll do it’. And it was done, first take. Now, a drunken scene is difficult to perform because you are either over or under. You can start hammering majestically. But somehow, I understood the tonality of it and the gravitas of it. The scene also brings out the pathos of this nawab, a rich man who is behaving in such an undignified way. So, I did it instinctively, and he came running and said, ‘Magnificent’. And it was pack-up after that,” Shekhar told Zoom Entertainment recently. Sekhar and Bhansali perhaps conspired to show that the Muslim Nawabs lived a life of debauchery!
The web series premiered on Netflix as well. It stars Sonakshi Sinha, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Shaikh, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal Mehta, Farida Jalal, Fardeen Khan, Shekhar Suman, and Adhyayan Suman in key roles.
Heeramandi was released to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in the country during the time of the elections. This would not have been possible without the incitement and encouragement from the prime instigator. If Shekhar Suman and Sanjay Leela Bhansali really care about the dignity of women, let them make a film on the exploited widows and young girls in Varanasi and the Devadasis from Karnataka. They can also try making films on the wine and women quotients of the Rajas and the Maharajas. They can take input for these films from the learned Parshottam Rupala. Why do Sanghis have the Lahore connection and the Pakistan fixation? When you flip the coin, show the other side too.
It is high time to ban the vulgar Heeramandi, which goes against the moral ethos of our country!
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