Yousaf Salahuddin on Heeramandi: From Lahore’s Legacy to Modern-Day Realities

Yousuf Salahuddin is a famous person in Pakistan due to his prominent involvement in arts and culture. He is also a well-known Philanthropist and is the maternal grandson of Allama Iqbal. He also owns the traditional eighteenth-century Mughal style Haveli called “Haveli Barood Khana”

He has also seen the real HeeraMandi in Lahore in the 80s and shared his views on it as he appeared as a guest on Amna Isani’s YouTube channel.

Here is what he said “If you believe the legacy of Heera Mandi is limited to Lahore’s historic red-light district, think again. Today the real Heera Mandi thrives in Defence (DHA), “Now, as I said, the biggest Heera Mandi is in Defence (DHA) because all the money is there. Most of the new wealth and ill-gotten wealth is in Defence, and now, people come with their own backgrounds, some are new, some are old.” 

He also talked about how people confuse professional dancers and prostitutes and clarified this confusion by saying ” “Dancing girls were professional dancers, sex workers were stationed in that area, which is called ‘Chakla’ in Urdu. It was an area where only they operated. But people began to mix up the two. People did not understand the difference between dancing girls and sex workers.”

On sharing further he told Amna Haider Isani that General Zia Ul Haq was the reason for clamping down on the Shahi Muahalla which had a negative effect leading to cultural decline.

“It was in 1988 that a strict crackdown began, because most of the voters from that community were PPP supporters. Since the entire community leaned towards PPP, a crackdown was launched. One day, for no reason, all the girls were picked up. During Zia-ul-Haq’s era, it was said that these women would usually sit in the upper floors of the brothels.” said Yousuf Salahuddin

He also criticized the portrayal of HeeraMandi in the recent Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Netflix series which was the most-watched show in both Pakistan and India. He shared how opposite it was to the original Heeramandi and how inaccurate it was historically.

He said “All the films that have been made recently, especially that film which was Bansili’s film, I think I saw only one episode of it. They have glamorized it a lot, made it famous, but they did it wrong. It all seems like it’s Lucknow. Brother, this is Lahore’s market. There’s no such attire here, nor such culture. They brought in the culture of Delhi and Lucknow and placed it here.”

Yousuf Salahudin made us understand what true Heeramandi used to be like and how differently it is portrayed today. What are your thoughts about Heeramandi’s present and past? Share with us in the comments below.