AP Research: The Development of the Diamond Bazaar
Advisor: Bryan Meyerowitz
This project seeks to understand to what extent the music videos of the show Heeramandi: The Diamond
Bazaar subvert historical narratives of courtesans in India. For some context, this series is based on the
lives of courtesans in the red-light district Heera Mandi located in modern day Pakistan. A common
stereotype of these courtesans is that they are of low social status and have loose morals; however, that is
not the case. In this show, we see them as complex characters with many ambitions and fears as well as
accomplished singers and dancers. I hypothesize that through the use of traditional musical compositions,
intricate choreography, and symbolic visual aesthetics, the show elevates the courtesans’ role, portraying
them as powerful women with autonomy in artistic, social, and political spheres. My methodology will
consist of coding the nine music videos and identifying common themes. I will then make a table and
assess the prevalence of each theme, considering the number of occurrences.
Project Blog
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).
Week 2: From Courtesans to Cinema: Understanding Heeramandi & the Gap
Welcome back to my blog! Today I’ll be discussing a couple useful sources that have helped me develop my project and my methodology.
For the first source, Pallabi Chakravorty’s “From Interculturalism to Historicism: Reflections on Classical Indian Dance” explores the changing cultural significance of Kathak, the classical dance featured in Heeramandi. She discusses the history of Kathak and that in colonial India, courtesans—primarily Muslim women trained in North Indian music and dance—once held high status but were later labeled “nautch dancers” by the British. The British-led “anti-nautch” movement further marginalized them, removing their ties to the arts. This source helps with my understanding of Kathak’s history in relation to courtesans.
For the second source, Thessa Mooij’s “The New Bollywood: No Heroines, No Villains” examines Bollywood’s defining features. She describes a typical Bollywood film as two and a half hours long with six to eight song-and-dance sequences. Similarly, Heeramandi has hour-long episodes featuring nine songs performed by the characters themselves. Mooij also classifies Bollywood as masala cinema, which blends Parsi plays, Urdu poetry, Victorian melodrama, and folk theater. Additionally, by including industry insights from lyricists and filmmakers, this source becomes more valuable for understanding Bollywood films and, by extension, series.
The last source is “The Aesthetics of Music Video: An Analysis of Madonna's 'Cherish'” by Carol Vernallis. This source has been very important in the development of my methodology. The goal of this paper is to analyze what elements of Madonna’s music video “draw the audience in,” and Vernallis begins by outlining what happens in the music video. She then analyzes many categories of the video such as flow, continuity, contour, form, motive, and more. This source serves as a guideline for my methodology and provides a structural framework.
Regarding the gap in research, there are no peer reviewed sources about the show Heeramandi because it was released in May of 2024. Additionally, Heeramandi takes place in Heera Mandi, a district in modern day Pakistan, and there is very little research on the role of courtesans in Heera Mandi specifically, even though there are many popular sources surrounding the topic. My data will provide insight into the reality of what the role of courtesans was in Heera Mandi and how Heeramandi changes historical narratives.
Oral defense question of the week:
How did you evaluate the sources you collected to make sure they would be credible, valid, and reliable? Which sources did you discard and why?
As I gathered sources (and continue to do so), I checked if their methodologies align with both their research questions and my own. Following the AP Research rubric, I also prioritized sources with reliable methods and different perspectives. The main reason I’ve discarded sources is the evolution of my research question. I also excluded some sources that focus on specific Bollywood films with research questions unrelated to mine because they would not be suitable even for background information.
Week 3: Breaking Down the Moves: My Research Methodology
Hello again, and welcome back to my blog! Today, I’ll be taking you through my methodology.
As I explained in my first post, my methodology is based off a book called Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context, that lists eight categories through which a music video should be analyzed. Those categories are narrative, editing, actors, settings, props and costumes, choreography (which looks at space, color, texture, and time), lyrics, and musical parameters (rhythm, harmony, etc.). I have chosen to look at the choreography (and maybe one other category, but I’m not sure yet). This will give me the most data since it has sub-categories and seems to be the most interesting category out of all of them. I will watch a video once for each sub-category (so four times total) and focus entirely on that sub-category. For example, if I’m looking at space, I will see how the main character uses the space around her (or doesn’t!). Are there any choices that are being repeated over and over again? And what do those choices mean? These are the kinds of questions I am thinking about while watching that video. I will then make a table of common themes and the number of occurrences to see what is prevalent and to make it easier to analyze the themes later.
However, my method is not foolproof (unfortunately). One limitation is that just by looking at one category, I am limiting my scope, especially in comparison with what the author of the aforementioned book has written. Another limitation is that the same movements or choices can mean different things, which makes the video harder to analyze.
Oral defense question of the week:
How is the method/process you chose aligned with the purpose of your research? What methods did you consider and reject?
What a relevant question for today! My method, coding, is the process that answers my research question best because I am looking for themes and how these themes undermine a certain historical perspective. I also believe the category I have chosen (so far) will show the most of the courtesan’s character and personality, which is what I am looking for. I considered looking at all eight categories as mentioned above, but that would make 72 categories total to analyze, which would be time consuming and a lot to write about (which may be difficult with the word limit).
Post 4: A Look at My Data Collection
Welcome back to my blog! This week, I will be giving you a sneak peek into the data I’ve collected so far!
My methodology has changed a bit since you last saw it, so let me explain what’s different. I am still sticking to coding the videos and finding themes, but to make it more standardized, I created a worksheet with questions under each sub-category that I need to answer. For example, under the “space” category, I have the question “How is the dancer using the space around her? Where on the screen is she during the song?”. Like this, I have around four questions to answer for time, color, and texture. Then I made a table with one column being “action/object,” the next being “symbolism,” and the last one being “theme.” Once I finish analyzing all the songs, I will make a table of common themes and the number of occurrences.
So far, I have analyzed 7/9 songs; the last two are pending because of some technicalities. During the two remaining songs, there are sections where the music is playing, but a different scene is being shown. Do I count that scene if it is still related to the song? Or do I leave it out because the dancer isn’t shown? Also, in those songs, there may not even be choreography, so do I still count that? One of the songs is “Ek Baar Dekh Lijiye” where we see how two love interests interact, but there is no dancing involved. This song also has nothing to do with courtesans since one character is pretending to not be one (the other character does not know that). The other song is “Azadi” and involves all the courtesans marching in protest against the British. If you have any recommendations, feel free to leave a comment!
From the seven songs I have analyzed, my hypothesis has proven to be correct and has answered my research question. While I have found instances that conform to the standard portrayal of courtesans, there are also many occurrences of “complexity in emotion” and “autonomy in decision making,” among other themes I have found. Because of the tables I am making, I can pinpoint specific examples as to how historical narratives of courtesans are being undermined.
Oral defense question of the week:
If you had three more months to work on this research question/project goal, what additional research strategies would you put into practice?
I would increase my sample size and select songs from popular movies about courtesans as well. This way, by looking at a range of videos, I could see how the portrayal has changed over time. For example, there were many famous movies released in the late 1900s, like Umrao Jaan (1981) or Pakeezah (1972), and I think it would be interesting to analyze how the characterization of courtesans has changed over the years.