With it finally being announced that Heeramandi will be released on Netflix on 1 May 2024, we wanted to get down a review of the initial trailers and teasers released so far. We’ll cover the first song released, Sakal Ban in another post.

The show stars Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh and Sharmin Segal. Produced and partly directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali in his first foreray into a miniseries, this promises to be. grand spectacle!

SLB has paired up with Rimple and Harpreet Narula for the second time, having previously worked with them in Padmaavat (2018). It’s nice to see the designers have employed a range of silhouettes, fabrics and embellishments to evoke the setting of the mini-series, which is pre-partition India (which we’re taking to mean the 1940s). It’s no mean feat designing for so many main cast members, all of whom have to look regal, but the designers have done a fantastic job.

To begin with, Netflix released two very short teasers back in February 2023 which gave a glimpse to the opulent world that would be showcased in this mini series. There were two posters released along with the teasers, each with a colour story.

We have gold:

And black:

We’ll cover the outfits worn in the gold poster in the post on Sakal Banas they’re from that song. We’ll cover Sonakshi’s gold saree here though as she doesn’t feature in the trailer for the song.

Sonakshi is wearing a golden saree with a co-ordinating dupatta on her head. It looks like the body of the saree has a trailing floral design, with a wide border all around. A particular shoutout has to be given to the hair designer – it’s refreshing to see some actual period styling elements includes rather than the usual trope of period film = long hair (we’re looking at you, Kalank), so Sonaskhi’s short hair with fingers waves fits the period perfectly.

Turning to the black poster, again, it’s nice to see a range of silhouettes from the period. It looks like Aditi and Sanjeeda are wearing lehengas with short cholis and are matching Manisha with lace dupattas. It’s difficult to see what Sharmin is wearing, but Sonakshi seems to be wearing a brocade gharara (a pair of flared trousers with a seam around the knee with more fabric gathered into it). Interestingly, Richa’s outfit or at least her kurta, seems to be the same as the one work by Sonaskhi in the first trailer released (based on the pattern of the fabric and the keyhole neckline):

It may be they are just two very similar designs, but equally they may have just refit Sonakshi’s Kurt for Richa as they needed something black for the poster shoot. The rest of Sonakshi’s outfit appears to be different, as we’ll examine more closely below.

Manisha’s Costumes

In Manisha’s character poster, we can see some kind of mustard kurta (possibly with a peplum as this seems to be a signature style for this character), paired with a green dupatta. The embellishment appears to be a mixture of aari (chain stitch) and marodi (cording) embroidery which are often used by RAH. There’s also some thin gota ribbon detailing running along the length of the sleeve in a double stripe. The whole look is accessorised with some impressive jewellery.

This costume has featured in a few of the clips shown in the trailers. It’s made up of a gorgeous lehenga covered in gota ribbon and other embellishments laid out in stripes which form triangles due to the joins in the panels. It’s possible that the underlying fabric is printed with stripes as well, as there appears to be some red, pink and green in there along with the gold. The hem features a floral work border with a red (possibly velvet) edging. The hem of the border also has a patchwork printed lining, as can be seen below:

The outfit is completed with a light grey short anarkali or peplum kurta with what appears to be a floral print. The dupatta is in net or chiffon with embroidery in the same floral pattern as the top. Interestingly, the lehenga was also worn by one of the Miss World Contestants at the Sakal Ban song launch.

This ensemble features a grey brocade sharara (flared, panelled trousers) with a co-ordinating embellished kurta and brocade dupatta with a striped pattern. Not a huge fan of the bump-it hairdo which feels a bit 60s, but that’s a minor complaint.

Grey is definitely a recurring colour for Manisha’s character, as this is the third costume in this colour story! This is a more simple kurta pajama, featuring tone-on-tone floral embroidery on the body of the kurta and dupatta, and a wide gota border on the dupatta.

Aditi’s Costumes

First up, we have this deep red peshwaz (more commonly known as an ‘anarkali’ after Madhubala’s character in Mughal-e-Azam). The seams of the panels on the anarkali are decorated in gold, and there’s a paisley motif featuring a green base along the hem and sleeves. The kothi (waistcoat) also appears to be in green, which provides a nice contrast. The anarkali is paired with a churidar pajama, and a co-ordinating dupatta, although interestingly two dupattas appear to have been made; the one on the character poster has a wider border with a brocade lining and small motifs scattered all over, whereas the one used on screen has a narrower scalloped border with an allover trailing floral pattern. The overall ensemble evokes Meena Kumari’s look from Thade Rahiyo from Pakeezah (1972) – we’re sure this mujra will be one to look forward to!

Not much can be seen of this outfit, but it appears to be a dove grey ensemble with white embroidery on the top and a matching dupatta with sequins and possible pearls laid out in wide stripes.

This outfit consists of a velvet choli with a gold work border on the sleeves, paired with a red brocade lehenga and a green dupatta with an all over floral embroidery. The dupatta has a contrasting pink edging, and overall seems similar to the one work by Sanjeeda below.

Sonakshi’s Costumes

Sonakshi’s character poster has her in a pink silk kurta with a simple neckline and lovely removable buttons (which are very much of the period). The hem and sleeves feature a gold work border also containing shades of blue. It’s unclear what the bottoms are, but they appear to be off white with embellishment that matches the kurta. The dupatta is a lightweight brocade with a stripped pattern in either an off white or pale pink base and a simple kiran (fringed) border. The green bangles also offer a nice contrast.

It’s hard to tell what the bottom of this ensemble ; it could be a sharara or lehenga or even a gharara, but the overall effect is magnificent. The fabric of the bottoms appears to be a crushed organza, and the top has a horizontal striped pattern on the sleeves (possibly only one of the sleeves), including bands in different shades of purple and light blue. The dupatta is a simple organza. The pairing of this outfit with the co-ordinated backdrop says that in this scene, Sonakshi’s character very much owns the space.

Not much to say about this one other than Sonakshi’s hair is longer so this may be a flashback. She also appears to be wearing two jhoomars (side ornament) on her head which is a big no from us, but given there’s a mirror and other jewellery on display in the background, her character could just be trying on one of the jhoomars in this scene?

This saree offers a nice visual break to all of the gorgeous more traditional attire. In a champagne colour and covered with sequins, it evokes the glamorous cocktail sarees often displayed by Manish Malhotra. The multicoloured sequin work on the sleeves provides a nice contract, and the styling of the hair with the diamond hair clip is very much of the period.

It’s nice to see the designers have included the farshi pajama in this series. This is very similar to a gharara in construction, but is made overly long in length so that it trails behind the wearer – it’s traditionally said that this style appeared as a response to the gowns with trains a lot of the British ladies wore during the Raj.

The pajama here appears to be a black and gold brocade, with a matching brocade kurta in a co-ordinating pattern. There seems to be a simple dupatta overlaid with a gorgeous shawl featuring pink flowers.

This lovely outfit may be a kurta paired with a sharara in pale blue. The lining on the border of the sharara offers a nice contrasting flash of pink. Interestingly, Sonakshi has a cover over her, which on closer inspection may be an organza saree – if you look at the placement of the embroidery on the borders, you’ll see that it’s doesn’t go all the way around which makes it more likely to be a saree than a dupatta. The bare edges of the dupatta also still have the thread knots or small beads also seen on the border of Richa’s saree below.

Richa’s Costumes

Again, it’s difficult to tell what this costume is, but the flower sehra (headress) would indicate it’s a bridal outfit. The main body of the costume is in a dark green – the churidar sleeves featuring an interesting embroidery layout make us think that it might be an anarkali? The dupatta is in a contrasting shade of light tobacco – if you look closely you’ll the sequins scattered all over are actually little stars!

This saree appears to be in an off white or pale beige organza with a lovely multicoloured art-deco style border. The border is also finished with little pearls which are similar to the dupatta or saree Sonakshi is covered with as noted above. Pay close attention to the bag that Richa is holding here as well, we think it will be a plot point…

Sanjeeda’s Costumes

This ensemble features a mustard dupatta with applique bordered in maroon and gold. There also seems to be some patchwork which looks similar to the patchwork border lining on the hem of Manisha’s lehenga discussed above. The printed kurta seems to feature a variety of prints and button band similar in style to Sonakshi’s pink kurta from her character poster.

This appears to be a more simple saree in light blue with possible drawn threadwork or cutwork on the border. It’s pared with a contrasting pink blouse.

Not much to say about this one, other than it appears to be in shades of green with the dupatta featuring floral embroidery all over and a purple contrast edging.

Sharmin’s Costumes

Sharmin’s character poster is a still from Sakal Ban, so we’ll discuss this costume in our post covering that song.

This is a striking outfit in white, worn for a mujra. It looks like an anarkali paired with a lehenga or possibly a gharara/sharara. The dupatta features a beautifully simple floral applique border and possibly mukaish (flat wire) work on the body.

This appears to be a simple outfit in grey (which seems to be a popular colour with RAH for this show), with some contrasts in maroon.

Again not too much to say about this one, other than it’s a simple outfit in white with tone-on-tone embroidery. From the overhead shot it looks like the bottoms could be a shalwar.

Which is your favourite costume from what we’ve seen so far?