'Wrong Portrayal of Tawaifs in Bollywood Damages Women's History:' A Kathak Dancer Speaks Out

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 Video: The Quint Music: BMG Support The Quint's independent journalism. Become a member now: https://www.thequint.com/plan-selecti... Join this channel to get access to perks:    / @thequint   __________________ SUPPORT OUR CAMPAIGNS: https://www.thequint.com/special-proj... _________________________________ For all things, Bollywood, Health, Food and Fun subscribe:    / @quintneon   _________________________________ Check out The Quint for more news: https://www.thequint.com The Quint in Hindi: https://hindi.thequint.com For more videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/2aIcith You can also follow The Quint here: Facebook: http://bit.ly/1RXYIg5 Twitter: http://bit.ly/1tjFuxI Instagram: http://bit.ly/1Piyc18