Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s big-budget streaming debut, is yet another high-profile Netflix failure.

A summation and culmination of Bhansali’s lifelong ambitions, the show represents everything that is wrong with his sensibilities and style-over-substance storytelling.

We discuss the show’s flawed understanding of feminism, aestheticisation of female suffering, and haphazard structure.

We also talk about why the immaculate visuals and costumes that Bhansali is known for don’t contribute to his narratives.

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