'Wrong Portrayal of Tawaifs in Bollywood Damages Women's History:' A Kathak Dancer Speaks Out
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- Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
- For the last 15 years, Manjari Chaturvedi, an Indian Kathak dancer from Lucknow gharaana, has been working on the stories of tawaifs, delving into their dance, music, and performance art, under her project called The Courtesan Project. She spoke to The Quint about the misrepresentation of tawaif culture in Netflix's latest series Heeramandi, as well as in the broader Hindi film industry.
Discussing the responsibility of accurately portraying history, Manjari says, '25-30 years down the line, if somebody researches tawaifs, they will use your work as resource material. Consequently, a work riddled with errors would be regarded as a credible source. In this manner, we have damaged women's histories, instead of enhancing them.'
#heeramandi #heeramandionnetflix #tawaif #courtesanproject #feminism #entertainment #bollywood
Quick Guide:
0:00 Hindi cinema and Bollywood are thanks to tawaifs
0:50 Misrepresentation in Heeramandi
2:18 Damaging tawaif culture with wrong portrayal
2:53 Initial representation in Bollywood
3:45 'Pakeezah comes closest to depicting tawaifs accurately'
4:29 Tawaifs are not sex workers
6:21 Tawaifs post-independence
7:04 The Courtesan Project
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Music: BMG
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The tawaifs themselves explicitly insisting that they were not pr0stitutes is especially disheartening when I think of the Korean subtitles of Heeramandi. In the series description and whenever the word "courtesan" is mentioned, it's translated as "changbu" which means "pr0stitute." This is likely because the subtitles were translated from English and the word "courtesan" in the English-Korean dictionary simply translates as "high-class pr0stitute." What's extra frustrating is that Korea used to have a similar class of female artists/performers called gisaengs or ginyeo, so translating the word as "ginyeo" would have not been more accurate but respectful. I've been sending feedbacks to Netflix but I'm only one person so...😭
I agree that the show didn't show enough of tawaifs as artists or their rigorous training, and surprised that there was no mention of their movie industry connections. (there were some references to the record industry but very minor, I wish Saima had a bigger part.) The character Alamzeb does read often, love books and wants to be a poet, but her actress is extremely wooden so I won't blame you for erasing her from memory😅
Thanks for pointing out.
Alamzeb is personally interested in poetry because she wants to become a “shayara” and not be a “tawaif” so her poetry is in fact not shown as being compatible with the trade
Madam, it is a very interesting piece of
Information.
Yes. The British were not aware of the Indian culture when we became their colony, specially during the Victorian period.
As it is the British of that period thought no end of themselves. It was a nation of shopkeepers.
Therefore we lost a
Very interesting culture of the singers
Sad indeed.
Even South India had such culture and the famous BharatNatyam dancer was BALASARASWATI, later on There were other good dancers too.
So tawaaiff is a high class p r o s t i t u t e
@@PriyaK-cu1fz No. 😭😭😭
Not a single scene of Riyaaz was shown in the series. Tawaifs were known for their rigorous Riyaaz, and their performances were unparalleled, a level of artistry that's missing in today's era. We've lost a significant treasure of art with them. I completely agree with your perspective, it's gender based discrimination and the commerical cinema misguiding the public by portraying wrong historical facts just to make money!
Bhansali not only misrepresented the culture and language of Punjabi city Lahore but also stole music and scene sequences from Pakistani punjabi movie. The Hit song "Masoon dil hai mera" is stolen from "Zindigi tamasha bani". This is the original song and its on youtube
/watch?v=5HUtqXv9cvg
I dont understand people who get triggered when anyone criticizes Heeramandi🙄
Have recently realized a lot of people are hardcore SLB fans and want to really live in his overdecorated-aesthetic forward yesterworlds and they’ve adopted his sensibilities for lack of any organic ones around so…yeah must be triggering
True@@dia606
maybe because how beautifully the film was made and gorgeous cinematography. even if it shows wrong history.
People have lost a sense of the divine in their hearts and lives, so they idolise people and get addicted to entertainment and circuses, rather than understand reality. I see it all the time. Almost possessed by the world.
@@skyejacques true
The last part was really thought provoking..how men can proudly claim to be ustads, from this gharana that gharana, while women who performed the same art at the same place were reduced to sex workers. Classical singer kaushiki also mentioned that so many thumris sung by men were written by female courtesans and we just forget the real artists behind them. Tragic
This is a very insightful and profound interview. Especially drawing parallels between Male artists being called Ustaad and generations taking pride in it versus Female Artists with same caliber and art being looked down upon and Tawaif as a title not holding equal respect as that of 'Ustaad'.
This point took my notice too.
Very well said.
Thats what i felt when I saw Heeramandi. If you remember Umrao Jaan and how Muzaffar Ali potrayed the character of Rekha.. she sits with a urdu teacher/molvi to have her ghazal edited. She perfects her ghazal and sings it on her first mujra. When Farooq sheikh listens to her first nazm/ghazal while passing by the road, he is mesmerized by her rendition of the ghazal. He is attracted to her as an artist, a poetess, a singer. Wierd thing about Heeramandi is someone who wants to be a shaira/poetess has no value at Heeramandi. End of the day Sanjay Leela Bansali's portrayal of the tawaifs renders them as cheap sluts/dancers in expensive clothes and jewellery. They are not learned women nor epitome of grace and tehzeeb nor artists. They are not shown as people who take their craft seriously.
💯👌
EVEN IN PAKEEZA, MEENA KUMARI IS SEEN WITH HER USTAD .
Well said
Very interesting observations on Umrao Jaan, while Asha Bhosle did an amazing job of the ghazals in that movie and suited Rekha’s voice, it was more contemporary than representative of its times, I wonder if a more traditional voice would have lent more authenticity to the songs like of the great thumri and ghazal singers who had a deeper sonorous intonation.
Well it always depends on who’s making the movie? Is he well informed? He did not bother to do that , most directors , producers are focused on their own agenda, making money, no interest in Authenticating stories , pathetic
The famous celestial Carnactic Classical singer, MS Subhalakshmi, belonged to the Devdasi community. It's Devdasisis who preserved Indian arts and culture.
The Devadasi community underwent the same problem as tawaifs. Initially they were artists dedicated to the temple . With the arrival of the British they got labelled as characterless and the art took a back seat
So true.
@@sangitasrinivasan1795
Devadasi and tawaif are different. Tawaif were part of the Muslim culture where lots of trafficking of girls happened
Girl,I have seen an interview of a very old man talking about real life devdasis from his youth and how they were used as high class pr0stitutes by British officials and temple authorities.What are you blabbering about???
@@prernarad correct yourself. Gemini's Mother was a brahmin widow.
I can't tell you how eye opening this was as a Pakistani girl who's only understanding of this subject came from Bollywood. Thank you for making this!
Bhansali not only misrepresented the culture and language of Punjabi city Lahore but also stole music and scene sequences from Pakistani punjabi movie. The Hit song "Masoon dil hai mera" is stolen from "Zindigi tamasha bani". This is the original song and its on youtube
/watch?v=5HUtqXv9cvg
It’s sad just like Geisha in Japan which is more about art and music ..
A very rich interview. Thank you Quint for revealing the actual fact of tawaif
Great interview.
William Dalrymple has given a very detailed description of how important tawaifs were in preserving refined culture in / up to the Mughal era, in his book The Last Mughal.
Their portrayal by Bollywood as glorified objects of sexual pleasure shows how clueless movie makers are of their own country’s history.
Oh man! I slowly realised watching this video, that I've seen Ms Manjuri Chaturvedi perform with the last living singer of the Awadh Court, Zarina begum, in Delhi some 10 years ago !! I was stunned at the magic they both created.
I had the chance to watch Manjari ji's performance as a part of 'The Courtesan Project'. She had done a collaboration with Neelesh Mishra at Jashn-e-Rekhta and it was simply mesmerizing.
Her work is truly perspective-changing. I really appreciate her dedication towards correcting the representation of tawaifs and telling their stories from a female artist's perspective instead of a male lay-person's non-nuanced perspective.
I can empathize with the simplistic black-and-white thinking of people from an era where purdah was common and women were kept away from the public gaze for the most part. But we, with all our historical perspective should appreciate what courage and dedication it must have taken the female artists from that time to put all societal scrutiny and criticism aside for the love of their art. Western scholars today would call them the feminists of their time, but we stubbornly hold on a dated view of things about them.
Those are the exact same issues i had with the portrayal of tawaifs in Heeramandi. Instead they just showed them as cheap prostitutes salivating over the wealth of nawabs and the power of british officers. There's no denying that tawaifs did prostitute themselves but they were artists before they were prostitutes.
Sadly people in this comment section is not getting this simple fact!
They were ARTIST
I think people are partly reacting to the kind of critique where tawaifs are distinguished from prostitution by talking about the latter as low and cheap and trying to make sure tawaifs come off as superior
But to give some credit this is set in 1940s when Britishers had already taken incharge of whole India. And they vilified Tawifs as "prostitute". Leading these women seeking powerful men just to survive.
And this isn't just Twaifs. Devdasi, Geshia, Ballet, Belly Danceers (not talking about the movie s-xualized version but actual ones) , pretty much all the Tawif counterparts in whole world end up regressed to s-x slave because of male dominance and shifting politics.
@@Vor567tez fair enough. But instead of wasting time on that nonsense main love story they couldve shown that contrast. Maybe they couldve shown how the colonization corrupted tawaifs while showing the history between Malika jan and Rehana...
I mean I would love to actually watch a whole 24 hrs series (cinematic) depicting the actual life of courtesans, the heirachy in the courtesan houses, different styles of courtesan dances different gharanans , it would be a fascinating dream cone true if the quality of detail is up to the mark with heeramandi
The filmmaker used several talented actresses in this movie, but failed to create a masterpiece.
Finally someone said it ...inner peace 🤌🤌🧘🧘
I am a Kathak dancer and a teacher too.
You are absolutely correct and this type of wrong message from Bollywood and social media leading many people to do anything in the name of Kathak. And not learning any Indian classical heritage properly.
Guru Rajeshwari Sharma posted a video few years back just to tell Madhuri Dixit to stop her from teaching wrong Kathak .
Thank you so much ma'am for this video......and narration is very apt and hope that young generation must know about our culture.
Ustad and Tawaif 😢
Loved this gender discrimination being pointed out
What's the gender discrimination?
@@bive4167 When a male singer sings in a darbar he is called Ustad , quite a respectable word but when a female singer performs in the same place she is called a tawaif, a degradable word .
Just why on earth are we even worried abt this shit...just listen to our Indian gyaani like Acharya Prashant ji...all this words tawiaf ,ustad , complete dressing from head to toe ,etc etc all this came into existence after mughal invasion of india & became a forceful part of our Indian culture...this is not true Indian culture...let us stick to our true Indian sanatani culture which existed for the longest time in pre mughal era...instead of worrying about tawaif & prostitutes...😊.
@@jamshedkarai5524 Amrapali kaun thii??
@@SingerKeyaa I don't know I'm not a history student & I'm a school dropout..I studied only till 8th standard...u tell me...
I was waiting for over half of the series to hear Alam zeb spit some bars in urdu but her poetry was only eyeroll and face palm worthy
“spit some bars” is wildddd
wait, what about “glance at me once and make my poor heart soar” 😩
@@MutsawasheMtanga 👏👏👏😂😂😂
@@MutsawasheMtanga shh... you might wake the volcano
@@MutsawasheMtanga yyyeah. that was ... a choice 😅
completely agreed with you Ma'am, when a so called A Director with a Noble Heart demands that he shows respect to Tawaef - then why they only portraying the seductive and physical aspect of this women!!!! If they by heart try to establish the fact that Courisans were qualified cultured , elit class children had been sent to learn etiquette and literature so why don't this Great film directors shoot a single scene related these facts or any kind of learning season or discussion on Classical dance ,Music or Literature etc!!!!! A whole gigantic seris only depict lust, women body, worthless meritless compositions and ofcourse the dance of all novice dancers !!!!!!
All they did in the show is bicker and plot against each other - he basically made it a K serial for dancers and seductresses
I really really wished every second that i watched the show to see even a little glimpse of the art part of the heeramandi. I just wanted to see women discussing art and studying it in the way they would've back then. But i only saw the tragic part and that disappointed me because they could've done SO much. In the end, the women just felt like they were reduced to seduction and jhagda and politics. But then again, that was one of the main motives of Sanjay Leela bhansali after all.
Thank you for sharing this. This is a problem i have noticed in heeramandi n to an extent in the other bhansali movies too. . . Where women are repeatedly reduced to these enchanting, titillating n tragic characters. Yes, bhansali can showcase his characters any which way he wants in d name of artistic license. But I thought artistic license was also about shocasing different perspectives or dissolve boundaries, and what does bhansali stand to gain when all his female characters start to have the same vibe across movies( i am to referring to the romantic storylines here). Where the grandeur of d set n costumes take precedence over showcasing of character complexities. Where the idea of love n tragedy takes precedence over showing love n tragedy.
Bollywood is mediocre why people don't accept
Bhansali makes money from grandeur. Thats all he cares about. Hexknows he could be distorting history. But why should that be his problem…
@@trulyyoursish Bhansali not only misrepresented the culture and language of Punjabi city Lahore but also stole music and scene sequences from Pakistani punjabi movie. The Hit song "Masoon dil hai mera" is stolen from "Zindigi tamasha bani". This is the original song and its on youtube
/watch?v=5HUtqXv9cvg
Extremely well explained, I understand now what the role of Tawaif was in the society and how it was misinterpreted through decades.
I was never a fan of Sanjay Leela Bhansali because of his unrealistic portrayals of historic figures. This dude has just one job and that too he miserably fails every time. He is more like a Tent wala with all the lightings and fake sets rather than a cinema maker.
Tha last point was spot on.. such a painful hard reason why your work is very significant to be known to everybody. Applauds!!!
Excellent exposition. So glad for it.
such a fascinating report/interview, after many years I am feeling so rich on this subject in just 10 minutes. Thanks to QUINT.
I was th inkng the same about dancing; I so wanted Heeramandi to show women honing in their art of dancing, the teaching of it, the practice and individual execution. However, thank you very mcuh for this wonderful insight and your commitment to tell the truth.
Brilliant ! Thank you for such an eye opener. Looking forward to more 🙏.
Wonderful! It's important as said that this will be the resource for future researchers
Thank you so much for this video. ❤
I think you should speak more on this topic and also on other platforms.
Thank you for the informative video
true maam ; have been following your work since ages... I wish i could see your live performance one day of the Courtesan project
Hello, thanks for sharing the real overview and history of the courtesans. I would like to request you to make a full documentary on your reseach work and aware the public on this. Its really important for the society to depict the correct picture of the talented indian women who are protrayed so wrongly by a bunch of film makers who just tampers history in the name of artistic freedom.
exactly,,, late is better than never, we need the true side
Yesterday only 24 may I watched movie Kisna after that we were discussing how much well cultured tawaifs were they knew every art... but one thing was there in our mind how they could be a prostitute after having such beautiful arts in themselves.... Thanks mam for clearing the doubt and presenting the real picture of Tawaifs what they were actually ❤
Thats why kisna is a flop
Great analysis and great perspective.
Beautifully said! I really wanted to see that pamphlet.
Glad quint you covered this as a story. Truly mesmerized by her work. Recommend people to discover her art whenever get a chance to
Wow I luv it its an insightful post thank you
What she is sharing is very true!!!!....infact because of such misconceptions....singers , musicians n dancers are looked down upon as a career...its getting better with time though
The last lines of your description are lit!!
That's exactly what I'm thinking. Sanjay LB, as usual, made it very visually appealing, but details are missing. I would have loved to see how these ladies cultivated their talents, how they learned, and who their Gurus or masters were. Also, I'm curious about how much riyaaz they did every day to perfect their art.
You make an EXCELLENT POINT. Thank you
Tawaifs were unofficial queens. Yes they were ill-treated. Their children if boy were taken to palace, if girls will remain in koti.
It all boils down to looking down on music, dance performers. Looking at artists as objects of pleasure.
This video should reach far and wide
Superb research..an eye opener..hats off tou you..
Thanks for sharing wealth of information! Sad very few filmmaker do research like you, before bringing something to public
Wow so enlightening thx for the research ❤
A very insightful interview! ❤
Manjari chaturvedi is a hidden gem. Har tawaif ki tadpi aatma ki dua se aj ye farishta aayi hai
Wow thank u so much mam such a brilliant subject and and ur analysis of the perspective of that era and what courtesanism actually was ❤👍🏻
Thank you. This was enlightening. Very well done. Lina.
To an extent the artists from pre-independence era who excelled in dance and music did get respectfully recognised in South India as (examples being ancestors of MS Subbalaxmi and Hema Malini)....but this also didn't happen in north India.
I don't mind movie makers taking any topic or plot from history, distorting it according to their convenience and making blockbusters. My problem is with people who mindlessly make them their inspiration or make reels adorning their outfits, copying their style, with out knowing what pain they went through. Just ask your self one question is there anyone on this planet who would like to be reborn as a so called courtesan or tavaif?
Tawaifs were artists, what’s wrong with being called that? This is problem with the distortion
when they talk about inspired by a real story or real events atleast show some respect not to distort to such an extent also that it looses its real essense and then do not mention about lahore 1920 etc also
Bollywood to actress ko bikini m bhi dikhata h kitne aurat logo ne bikini pahn liya?
@@sassbahu7060 in 70s bollywood shows women in mini skirt 😂
Video dekh lo bhai poori ...tawaif were artists !
Thank God someone is speaking about what matters and has been overlooked in a mega glamorous project just to fit it to the creator's fantasy!
Thanks for sharing this if there are any books on this topic please give reference
Great analysis, beautifully explained
Loved it, thanks Quint
Wow! Such an eye-opening and mind-widening presentation!
As a subcontinental artist deeply involved in literature and cultural activities since childhood, these 'cinematic' representations came as very conflicting to my young heart. I didn't know about these biased and abusive presentations promoted by our media. Exposing these abuses of hundreds of years is vital, because this trend of evaluating performing arts on the basis of gender, and degrading female performers, is being seen in almost every aspect of culture.
last point was so valid.
Thanks a lot from your information and explanation🙏
Really interesting interview…
My take away:
Tawaifs were the artists who were highly feminine, they mastered the arts like poetry, music, philosophy, etc. since they were masters in their craft & eluded feminine Grace they naturally attracted the alpha males (nawabs & kings) who perhaps went there for the craft of the art but ended up falling in love with the artist… hence they were not sex workers.
We need strong people like you to maintain history in original way
BEAUTIFUL story!🙌🙌
Well researched and well explained 👍
Thank you so much for this thoughtful insight 🙏🏼
Thank you for elaborating this ,it uplifts the morals of TAWAIF .
Absolutely brilliant analysis of the TRUTH vs FANTASY regarding Tawaifs. Thank you!
This was eye-opening. Thank you.
Finally some said it. ❤
Finally!
Such an informative video❤❤
Finally Manjari ji talked about it.
Such an insightful interview.
A very insightful interview I have seen after so long.. the point she mentioned in 7.00min is so valid.
They should have made a series from Memory of light by Ruth Vanita
Well researched ✨
Beautifully explained thank you
Great information!
Thank you so much for this. It is disheartening that people make a glamorous distortion of facts a hit simply because it's glamorous and made by Sanjay Leela Bhansali who has supposedly history of distorting stories, novels and history for his own purposes without worrying about repercussions that many people actually take his distorted films as true represetation.
Very well explained!
Perfectly Expressed ❤
Thanks! A rich and comprehensive view
Someone with guts to speak out finally
Wonderful insight thank you
It's just like how female actors are labeled as show piece, tawaifs are labeled...this video is really an eye opener
lovely video, this kind of talk brings me and I am sure other women immense peace to know what tawaifs originated as and what they brought to the table before their legacy was ruined forever.
Much needed.
Good Ma'am,👍 happy that someone who has researched came up to speak out the real things.
Its just jike how they defamed the roma culture, ... So it is the responsibility of the creators to show accuracy.
I’m glad I saw this, it broadened my horizon of knowledge
Such great insights in 10 mins !
We need more female history, from the famle gaze to fix the male gaze/british pov in india
Very good research 👏 👌
Very well articulated.. It's true we hardly get to see women's perspective on so many things.. It has been a man's world.. Sure things are changing but it's work in progress.
That's artists/storytellers should tell their stories responsibly esp when u are contextualising them with an entire culture and important phase in history..
Got some really good insights and reflections
Absolutely valid observations!
Yes correct. There was not one scene in the Heeramandi series where the tawaifs were seen doing riyaaz, discussing shayari, poetry or composing something. The whole time they were just planning and plotting.
Thanks for sharing ❤
This kind of videos should be more available in the digital platforms so that the history of women never get misinterpreted. Thanks to the chanel and the Manjari chaturvedi Ma'am .
Bollywood and hindi serials have always used names of historical person's as a selling point and weaved such crazy stories around it. One eg is Jodha Akhbar.
Well explained. Good Job