Netflix heads to Dandenong for Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar launch

The Netflix team has headed out of the city for another event, last night in Dandenong for a Melbourne premiere of lavish Indian drama, Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.

The series is the first television series by Bollywood director Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

The 8 part series centres about the lives of tawaifs at the red-light district of Heera Mandi in Lahore during the Indian independence movement against the British Raj with favourite Bhansali performers including Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha.

The screening at The Drum theatre in multicultural Dandenong was attended by many of the local Indian community and officiated by Greater Dandenong Mayor Cr Lana Formoso, and a video greeting from one of the cast. The foyer was decked out in the colourful fabrics and foods of the Indian subcontinent.

A Sydney premiere was held on Sunday night, both ahead of New York and London events.

Arch nemeses Mallikajaan and Fareedan are locked in a battle for succession of Heeramandi, where courtesans reign as queens. The only hope is young Alam, Mallikajaan’s youngest daughter. But what happens when Alam relinquishes power and chooses the love of one man over the adulation of many? Set in pre-independent India against the backdrop of the freedom movement, Heeramandi is an epic saga of love, power, betrayal, struggle and, ultimately, freedom.

Wednesday May 1 on Netflix.