Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar

The tale is a dreary and nonsensical affair.

The screenplay proves a tiresome, protracted bore.

The dialogue is insipid and trite.

Performances are utterly devoid of vitality.

The production values, however, are quite lavish.

The locales are top-notch.

The sets and their adornments are simply splendid.

The costumes are exceptionally fine.

The makeup is rather pleasing.

Cinematography is nothing short of remarkable.

The lighting is impeccable.

Alas, the direction feels hopelessly antiquated.

Its a mixed bag of splendid visuals and dreary narration not recommended for viewing.

****4****

Never expected this meandering story from this genius. None of the characters impresses. It's a strain watching pure dialogue delivery. Boring and lacklustre characters that fail to engage.

It seems the makers just wanted to somehow stretch a story to 8 episodes. The sets and costumes will impress only when you have well fleshed characters . Sorry Bhansali ji you have disappointed us.

Too much effort of audience goes in adjusting to names and recollection of past events because the scenes are forgotten due to lack of potency. I wonder why more effort was not put in. Basic principles of scene construction were ignored.

My 5yr old sister can do better acting then sharmin Segal...the worst actress in the whole universe I would like to say.... HOW CAN A PERSON HAVE 0 EXPRESSION just because she is a sibling of Sanjay Leela bhansali, she got a chance for the biggest role There can be any actress in her play and they would do better than this women Most disappointing part is the lead female actor too disappointing she has just one expression in the whole series just 1 expression Otherwise the series is great and watchable for people who like old periodic movies it is a glamorous series which represents the beauty of tawaifs.

If you are a sucker for visually pleasing set pieces, then this is a treat for your eyes. The set design will definitely be the benchmark for Indian cinema for days to come. Every scene looks like a painting. The costume design is immaculately seductive, feminine and elegant making everyone look so rich in taste.

First half of the show, with a lengthy narrative introduces us to its timeline and courtesan's life beyond the singing , dancing and beds. Themes like betrayal, envy, scheming,revenge, poltical subplots are slowly disclosed which gets you hooked as it builds up immense curiosity to find out how it all pans out. As it is set in the pre independence era, it also sheds light on freedom struggle amongst different strata of the society. The writing is just so clean and detailed. Highly appreciable.

But for some reason, the show makers decide to abandon all of these, all the great characters, the story building they themselves did so spectacularly. They just give up all of this to some lazy writing towards the end and devote the concluding moments in exploring "Patriotism" out of the blue. This immediately makes you unhinged from the screenplay, story and it sets in a strong sense of detachment towards the characters.

The show had everything going right for them since the beginning. The actors did a superb job. The art department blew it out of the park. The story had immense potential. But for some reason the writers were in a hurry to finish and didn't climax smoothly XD

Could've easily been a 9/10 but sadly doesn't hold up its side of the bargain.

Powerful performance by Manisha, sonakshi. Interesting storyline..didn't enjoy the last 2 episodes as it was a complete diversion from the main plot. The politics of heeramandi is what makes the story enjoyable...Manisha and Sonakshi along with bibbojaan were really good, even saima and fattu are well written characters on the other hand richa was completely wasted Lajjo was a poor character no graph no depth. Actress who played Alamzeb her voice and diction were good but this role needed a very very good actress and she had limited expressions. Music is very good, it's a visually stunning film too.