Hyderabad: Sanjay Leela Bhansali's highly anticipated series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar aired on Netflix on May 1. It is based on the lives of courtesans in Lahore's red-light district during India's freedom movement from the British Raj. Bhansali left no stone unturned to weave his magic on OTT, from magnificent sets to striking jewellery. However, the show invited criticism as a former journalist pointed out faults and goof-ups in SLB's Heeramandi.
Amidst reviews and discussions about the show on social media, a netizen pointed out that a sequence in the series was inaccurate given the period it depicts. An image has gone viral, showing Sonakshi Sinha reading a newspaper with headlines regarding events like the Warangal Municipal Elections and mask distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the breathtaking spectacle, observant viewers, including veteran journalist Pervaiz Alam, discovered flaws that jeopardised the narrative's historical accuracy.
In the scene, Sonakshi Sinha's character, Fardeen, can be seen reading an Urdu newspaper on current events like the Warangal Municipal Elections and a Youth Congress mask distribution scheme that did not exist in 1920. Furthermore, the newspaper's masthead, Tez Hawa, appeared in reverse, which was not a prevalent practice back then. Sharing the screengrab, Alam wrote: "Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s epic web series Heera Mandi on Netflix is set against the Indian independence/British Raj in Lahore of the 1920s-1940s. Fareedan (Sonakshi Sinha) is supposedly reading an Urdu newspaper (EP5). Headlines say, “Warangal Municipal Elections: TRS Distributes Tickets”, “The Launch of a Scheme to Distribute 50,000 Masks by Youth Congress."
