Review of Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar

I am giving it 3 stars for:

• set design and aesthetics
• costume design
• acting by Manisha, Sonakshi and Aditi

The series falls flat on every other front. First of all, casting of Sharmin as Alam was a big mistake. That girl cannot act for her life. Throughout the series her expression remains set in stone. It doesn't change when she is being romantic with her lover, it doesn't change when the lover dies and it doesn't change when she kills someone. Ma'am, you need to express your emotions not act like a painted doll.

Then, what was the story? What was the point of the story? It went from revenge to patriotism with nonsense twists and turns in between. It's like SLB had multiple ideas and tried to execute all of them together and did justice to none of them. What was the point of Saima's character? How can all the courtesans forget all their mutual enmities at the drop of a hat in the final episode and come together as freedom fighters? What? This was a complete 180 turn from the rest of the series. It's like the writer was in a hurry to finish off the series. Also, why is it so dark? I had to turn up the brightness of my screen all the way to be able to see what was going on.