hi. go buy esims for gaza. go preorder a kufiya from hirbawi. buy insulin for palestinian diabetics who need that help. if you live in the states use this to email your reps (this takes maybe 5 seconds to do). check out this massive list of resources where you can educate yourself in a meaningful and actionable way even if you don't have the financial means right now. from the river to the sea palestine will be free. 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

Wasnt really intending to draw Tao but Voila!

I especially like the close-up pic cause its so moody

bhansali's works are cinematically so gorgeous. from the dresses to the architectures, from the dialogues to the expressions, from the jewelleries to the makeups, from the music to the moves. top notch. i cannot say about the stories and how historically correct they are but the aura and the glamour of his show/movies are breathtakingly beautiful.

Heeramandi (2024)

Heeramandi

𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖎𝖆𝖒𝖔𝖓𝖉 𝕭𝖆𝖆𝖟𝖆𝖗

Sl Bhansali's work is always the adaptation of stories with of larger than life sets and characters and often along with the efforts of his team which includes musicians , screenwriters , camerapersons , costume designer choreographers and other smaller to big participants , somehow he brings it to serve the audience with huge expectations. Extracting the artist from an actor is an art and yes it gets displayed in his work quite a few times. This might be because it's artists only he often chooses to work with.

Talking about the Gems here it wouldn't be a surprise that even if slb doesn't chose her as Muse , audience can surely see their true dreamgirl in Aditi Rao Haidary. And i believe for good reasons she truly is the one with that inherent royalty in her persona which she displayed with ease in Heeramandi as Bibbojaan .

She deserved to be in such humongous cinematic work where slb explored her Talent of acting as real art. She is like a royal painting everyone desires but it's too precious to touch . And her's was probably the only character who's been given an exquisite commence and even more esteemed closure.

Sonakshi sinha !!!!! My goodness. The first secene of Malika interacting with Rihaana. She was PHENOMENAL. Sonakshi clearly acted distinguishingly in both characters. Brilliantly AsThe Power-hungry Rihaana and as BitterSweet yet calculative and strong Fareedan. As an artist she did justice to her character but unfortunately the transition of character development wasn't as subtle as her performance in duel characters. Slb rushed it here awkwardly. But have to accept the fact that SLb's work as director with Sonakshi was commendable and that's the best role she's has got till now.

Manisha mam uffff . Awestruck I am . Mam I need to visit the temple you have been bestowed upon this much grace from . What an elegance , the royalty, the talent of deception with power and then transition to being coy just for sec and then jumping back to power with subtlety. She is an epitome of Talent and thankfully got the well deserved comeback 💕

One true hidden gem Sanjeeda shaikh as Waheeda . If " Bechari " is a word then her character is the definition. The one who tries to behave like morally corrupt but fails utterly. I can't imagine someone falling tremendously at being bad coz probably that's not the inherent nature of the character. Even Greed and lust  somehow couldn't help her to be evil . Coz she actually was the true victim of betrayal by everyone she wanted to ever feel close . Pity

Taha here in Heeramandi as tazdar i believe is serving his charms equally to all genders. He is fluid in his appearance and leave the body language aside for a while but he as an artist talks and plays so much with his eyes .

Lajjo , The lady deserved much better space in here as the heartbroken delusionally made in love  woman. And left the mark of excellence with small screen presence. The thing that was even more unexpected was the dance Richa Chadhha did with that grace left me awestruck. Never knew she could do it this naturally that too in the traditional style. Still seems like her character was half served to the audience. And as Shekhar Suman's son has history with strong women with touch of insanity seems like it was repeated here in story but the other way round.

Alamzeb portrayed by Sharmin Segal . I went like "WHAT" . If dreamyness is a word she did it good . Coz she probably acted well in director's dreams only . Slb is somehow master to bring the charm even in the smallest of characters but blood got thicker than water for him too . He got pathetically lenient here .

On the contrary Shurti Sharma as Saima ( a friend , a lover and then a singer) and Rajat kaul as Iqbal Balli ( the one madly in love with loyalty)  did amazingly well in their characters .

Jayanti bhatiya who has always been a great actress and Nivedita Bhargav as Mallikajaan's assistants satto and phatto did their role with super ease and again decorated the blank space of cinematic work brilliantly. 

Ustaad ji " kamaal" kar gaye . Indresh malik was phenomenal as Ustaad . Greedy , deceptive, secret keeper and the connecting line between the world of Courtesans ( the entertainers)and The world Of Admirers ( the buyers) . The duality of his character arc is just as expected and he shined through it just like the nose ring . 

And Ujjwal Chopra as Tazdars's father was brilliant in his given screen space and played his character with honesty of an artist.

Shekhar Suman was bold in the portrayal of old Zulfiqar with pinch of comical satire too. 

Pratibha Ranta again  shined through her small role and got the curiosity in me about her work . And damn she is such a talent, laapta ladies is one huge example.

Fardeen khan , and other actors jason Shah and Mark Bennington who played English characters were fine and subtle along with Anju Mahendru ( the amazing artist) as phoophi .

Fareeda Jalaal as Tajdaar's Grandmother is the cutest dadi everyone deserves to have . The one like Pariyon ki kahaani , potli mein sapno wali . ( Stories of fairies, with bundle of dreams)  with charm of young at heart . and honestly this hits the nostalgia everytime she make her presence on screen . Truly Dadi Jaan <333 

bout language, as much as I like urdu not sure how accurately it was used here but felt it was a bit forced effort. Still can't comment exactly about it

Bringing the topic of Courtesans in front of audience was bold move and Sanjay Leela Bhansali has got a knack for it . Well again the subject is not an unfamiliar one coz some of the popular work like Pakeezah and Begum Jaan were made previously where Courtesans were shown as integral part of society and that extends to cinema like Mandi, Chandani Bar, Chameli , and later on Bhakshak and Safed exploring the somewhat much real and darker side of society and the shades of this subject .

Heeramandi the diamond baazar i believe although gave a glimpse of Tawaifs sharing their due role as freedom fighters but it was mainly through one character only in this regard. His more emphasis was on the powerplay among the communities here. The Main Agenda of Baazar as to "In the game of power, there are no rules, only winners and losers. And the one who wins is the one who rules. "

Since we call cinema is the representation of society, somehow bears the responsibility of showing the disadvantages and advantages of actions and thought process and it's influence on the society with it . Rejecting the norms to one's self interest isn't the best idea ever . Though this part got quite a fast forwarded in the ending of Heeramandi, but ultimately left the message about what havoc an insatiable hunger for power and control can create among any community where even stronger too get it's bad impact and every others are just left as sufferers. And then for survival they need to fight when the roots are already left to rot . 

So cinema left a message here too although a bit in a haphazard way But It's There. It leaves the space to respect every character in its true identity and the messeges are intricated subtly here . 

It was a visual treat to be honest and again may be not so great but Respectable work of Slb and team . That's the Picture of "HeeraMandi" made with few best of the diamonds of Indian cinema.

licensed therapists when your problems aren't mild social anxiety and being sad once in a while

The last one I went to kept asking why I wanted a "label" (I have a previous diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder, OCD, and Major Depressive Disorder) and kept changing the subject when I talked about wondering if I also have ADHD and/or Autism, as I have similar symptoms and experiences as diagnosed friends....

....she then proceeded to tell me ALL of my symptoms were because of childhood trauma (so I guess labelling is only okay when she does it). Didn't elaborate or explain which trauma or how it impacted me, either. She also implied that that is the reason I'm polyam, and couldn't believe I have a healthy relationship with communication and boundaries 🙄🙄

I stopped seeing her after less than a year.

Pour one out for a real one.

Reading up on him, he was a pretty cool guy. He was one of the first people to stand up to John Money about his theories of gender development and position that intersex infants should receive surgery and never be told about it using his abuse of David Reimer as ‘proof’, asserting that Money didn’t have the evidence and standing his ground even when Money straight up started screaming at him. And then later he was proven right when he got into contact with David Reimer, not only discovering proof that Money was wrong but also how abusive and horrific Money had been. He then went on to write advocating for intersex and trans rights and to avoid unnecessary procedures on intersex people without full informed consent and that intersex people are part of natural human variation and that we deserve acceptance and not to be treated like a disorder.

A quote I really like from him: ‘Nature loves diversity, society hates it’

I really think everyone needs to truly internalize this:

Fictional characters are objects.

They are not people. You cannot "objectify" them, because they have no personhood to be deprived of. They have no humanity to be erased. You cannot "disrespect" them, because they are not real.

I know this has good intentions, so I will just add the "how you treat them, even as objects of fiction, can speak about your own character, be careful out there"

Your addition is actually completely antithetical to my message. It is literally the opposite of what I am conveying.

Stop telling people to encourage the cop inside their head.

How you treat fictional characters, given they are entirely objects of fiction, does NOT necessarily speak to your own character, and you do not need to be "careful".

It is not dangerous to imagine dark things happening to fictional characters. It does not mean you are secretly a bad person. It does not mean you unconsciously want to hurt people in real life. It is not a "slippery slope" to doing bad things to people in real life. You cannot damage your brain or turn yourself into a bad person by consuming "dark" fanfic.

I can write tentacle noncon of my favorite character all day long and be a fierce anti-sexual assault advocate in real life because what I do in my head is not the same thing as what I do in real life.

These tags were too perfect to not include

you can reinvent yourself as often and as much as you want. you don’t have to stay stagnant to make other people comfortable.

‼️🇵🇸🇮🇱 About 109 palestinians martyred and 296 injured from Monday to Wednesday due to Israel’s Rafah invasion

[Plain text: About 109 palestinians martyred and 296 injured from Monday to Wednesday due to Israel’s Rafah invasion]

🔸 Source: Al Jazeera

"What exactly is going on in #Gaza now: Israeli occupation and Joe Biden claim that Israeli occupation forces have occupied Rafah Crossing and are carrying out a limited operation."

"The truth is that the Israeli occupation forces have been operating in all of the city, while a ground invasion has started in the eastern side of it. Israeli fighters and artillery have been pounding all parts of the city, including the city centre. Meanwhile, since midnight, the Israeli occupation forces have been pounding the southern parts of Tal Al Hawwa, Al Sabra and Al Zaytoun neighbourhoods —south of Gaza City— with heavy fighters and artillery shelling."

"They have destroyed over 20 homes, including one condensed residential building owned by Abu Sharia family in Al Sabra, leaving over 20 people dead and three wounded. Eight were evacuated and buried in a makeshift cemetery and the others still under the rubble. Israeli occupation forces have detained three wounded displaced persons who could not flee their refugee shelter in Al Zaytoun neighbourhood. They have razed a cemetery and have been razing trees and farms in addition to homes in the same area." Reported by: @/AbujomaaGaza

honestly pissed off that Eurovision is trending despite the very explicit call for a boycott from BDS itself. Went into the tag hoping that there would be content about Palestine but no…some of u are unironically excited about this stupid fucking genocide supporting contest. If you can’t skip watching Eurovision for Palestine while Israel is literally invading Rafah…like good lord it’s not even the bare minimum it’s lower than that. BDS has been calling for a boycott for months now so it isn’t like this is a last minute thing either.

Something I learned in these last seven months is that when children get war-related amputations, they need further surgeries as they grow.

I'd read it on Twitter so I looked it up to confirm (and it's true) but a lot of the search results were hospitals and doctors trying to explain the process to parents and what to tell their children, what kind of care they'd need after, how prosthetics would work.

I just saw this adorable little baby on Twitter (you can click to view the video, it's not gory, he's just a super serious little dude)

and I thought, fleeing from Rafah must be one of the most traumatizing dangerous situations you could be in right now as a healthy adult, let alone a baby with multiple amputations in famine conditions.

There are no working hospitals to speak of in Gaza, healthcare workers keep being killed off, aid keeps being blocked, many of the amputees have no one to look after them, there's still constant bombing and shelling and shooting.

UNICEF reported 1,000 child amputees by the end of November.