AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE (AFP)
LAHORE, Pakistan: The Netflix hit ‘Heeramandi’ depicts the plush and powerful lives of courtesans in the 1940s, but there is little glamour for modern Pakistani sex workers in the faded red-light district where the series is set.
The eight-part show – subtitled ‘The Diamond Bazaar’ in English – portrays courtesans in the “royal neighbourhood” of pre-partition Lahore, once a hub of culture and political intrigue.
With dazzling Bollywood-style opulence, it shows women consorting with aristocrats, forging influential alliances and rivalries against the backdrop of India’s struggle for independence from British rule.
But in the derelict remains of the neighbourhood, 65-year-old former sex worker Shagufta scoffed.
“This is not what Heera Mandi is like,” she told AFP, using a pseudonym to protect her identity.
“Now the girls just put their bodies on display,” explained Shagufta. “There is nothing left in Heera Mandi.”
Shagufta can trace back seven generations of women in her family who worked as “tawaifs” in Heera Mandi, and she began dancing and being prostituted at the age of 12.
While courtesans did command respect for their artistry in dance and music during the Mughal period, the show exaggerates the wealth and glamour of the British-ruled era in which it is set.
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