Week 1 - An Introduction

Hi everyone! I’m Sri, and I’m so excited to start off my blog posts! This week, I’ll be introducing you all to my project. 

In May of 2024, a very popular series called Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar was released on Netflix and it instantly caught my attention. Once I saw that it was produced by THE Sanjay Leela Bhansali (a very popular Indian producer known for making beautiful movies), I absolutely knew that I had to watch the show. It looks like I was not the only one because within the first week, Heeramandi gained 33 million viewership hours and was second in Top 10 Non-English shows. So what is this gem of a show about (no pun intended)? Well, it explores the lives of tawaifs (courtesans) in the red-light district of Heera Mandi, located in modern-day Pakistan. The show takes place during British rule, and we see themes of love, heartbreak, betrayal, and ambition. Within the first episode, I realized that I had never seen anything like this before; the courtesans were complex characters that had more priorities than just their sexual relationships with wealthy clientele. Not only that, but there were exquisite songs, luxurious sets, and detailed costumes and jewelry. 

With such striking musical numbers and portrayal of courtesans, I just had to ask this question: How do musical and visual codes in the songs of the show Heeramandi operate to subvert historical narratives of courtesans in India before India’s freedom? I believe that the musical and visual codes act as a tool to challenge historical narratives of courtesans in pre-independence India by redefining them as influential cultural figures. Through traditional musical compositions, intricate choreography, and symbolic visual aesthetics, the show elevates the courtesans’ roles, portraying them as powerful women with autonomy in artistic, social, and political spheres.

Oral defense question of the week:

After you chose your research question/project goal, which information guided your choice of a research method/artistic process?

At first, I found many articles using machine learning or programming to analyze music videos and their popularity, but I knew that if I wanted to understand the popularity aspect, I would need to alter my research question. I wanted to avoid that, and I also knew that if I tried a method that was already established, I could at least have a framework. I kept looking and eventually found a paper analyzing Madonna’s music video for her song “Cherish” and saw that it detailed what I needed very well but did not really tell me how to do it. I later realized that it came from a book called Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context which explains exactly how to analyze music videos, so my method is based of the coding methods the book lists (which is coding music videos through eight categories).