Heeramandi: Netflix’s Magnum Opus With Empty Context
Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar is coming on Netflix very soon. This big budget period drama stars Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, and Sharmin Segal in the roles of Tawaifas.
With several assets out in public, Heeramandi has failed to generate enough buzz. It’s very difficult and nearly impossible for any OTT platform to cover such huge economics through streaming. Moreover, the viewership for series (long-format projects) is quite low in India.
Since the series is about the lives of tawaifs in the red-light district of Heera Mandi in Lahore during the Indian independence movement against the British Raj, we can say that the content is not suitable for family audiences. This makes things more difficult for the OTT platform in the process of making it a moderate success; forget Hit.
Not to forget SLB‘s last film, Gangubai Kathiawadi, was made on the budget of 180 crore and made 125 crore nett at the Indian box office. That film became a hit because it had a recovery coming from music and OTT platforms, but Heermandi only has an OTT release to cover a similar or slightly higher budget. Considering the low buzz and empty context we have seen so far, Heeramandi seems like a gone case for Netflix already.
