Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar ending explained – What happens to Alam?

But at the end of episode 7, Alam was delivered a shocking blow in the middle of her Heeramandi debut by sister Bibbojaan (Aditi Rao Hydari).

Bibbojaan had to tell her younger sister that Tajdar had been killed, and so the ground was laid for a suitably dramatic final episode of the hit Hindi-language series.

The finale picks up a few days after Tajdar's death, and sees Alam in the midst of grief and shock at her lover's demise before they'd even had the chance to marry.

But with such a major event happening to Alam, what does she decide to do in the final episode?

Is there vengeance for Tajdar's death? Read on for everything you need to know about the ending of Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.

Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar ending explained - What happens to Alam?

The start of the finale sees Alam in her bedroom, lying silently among the other women who admit that she's been in a state of shock for four days. She eventually leaves Heeramandi to visit Tajdar's grave after he was killed by Cartwright (Jason Shah) and the police while in custody for working with the rebels.

Alam then goes to visit Tajdar's grandmother Qudsia (Farida Jalal), whose health is waining after having refused to take medication. In order to give her some hope to continue living, Alam tells her that she's pregnant with Tajdar's child.

Alam's story, while a focal point of the series, does take a little bit more of a backseat in the final episode as tensions continue to rise between the people in Lahore and the British Raj.

Most notably, a lot of the final episode sees how Mallikajaan (Manisha Koirala) and Bibbojaan are just some of the women in Heeramandi who want to join forces in order to take down British forces.

What happens to Mallikajaan?

Mallikajaan struggles in light of Tajdar's death, and partly blames herself for trying so hard to get her daughter Alam to be a tawaif in Heeramandi.

In a surprising turn of events, Mallikajaan confides in her nemesis Fareedan (Sonakshi Sinha), who has tried to take business away from Heeramandi since her arrival in the city.

Now, Mallikajaan tells Fareedan that, despite her best efforts, her daughters Alam and Bibbo don't want to be the next lead tawaif of Heeramandi.

So, rather than decide to choose her daughters as her successor, Mallikajaan resides to choosing Fareedan and gives over the keys to Heeramandi.

Mallikajaan has no trust in the British after having been raped by Cartwright, which is also something that Fareedan also sees herself as being somewhat accountable for after involving the British in the arrest of Alam.

Together, they resolve that they'll put their differences aside in order to work against their common enemy.

Bibbo and the other rebels are saddened by the loss of many of their comrades, but taking their efforts to the next level, they need somewhere to hide out and store their weapons. Bibbo says that they can use Heeramandi as their secret base, but is caught by her mother Mallikajaan.

Having not really known anything about Bibbo's secret rebellious life until now, but holding the same views as her daughter, Mallikajaan comes to the rescue somewhat and tells her maids Satto and Phatto to prepare some food for the group.

But in uniting to help the rebels and house them at Heeramandi, the nawabs who frequent Heeramandi choose not to visit anymore, leaving the grand mansion desolate of visitors.

Why? Well, after Fareedan tells one of the nawabs, Wali Mohammed (Fardeen Khan), about the fact that the tawaifs will be joining forces to fight for Indian independence, it becomes public knowledge.

The British have continually had an imbalanced relationship with the nawabs in Lahore, and so the nawabs fear that their noble titles and lands will be taken away from them if they continue to support Heeramandi in the face of their rebellion.

Even so, Mallikajaan and Fareedan resolve to continue putting on performances even though they don't have any audiences.

For help and support on issues raised within this article, head to Hourglass and End Violence Against Women.

What happens to Bibbojaan?

Bibbojaan's always been a part of the rebel cause and fight for independence, but with the unexpected support from her mother, she becomes even more determined. She tells the women of Heeramandi that they shouldn't be enslaved to anyone – neither nawabs nor the British.

Seizing the opportunity before her, Bibbojaan tells the rebel group that she has been invited by General Henderson (Mark Bennington) to an Imperial Police gathering in which he'll be giving a speech. A high-ranking British officer, Henderson is also part of Bibbojaan's plan to infiltrate the force after having also become her lover.

Bibbojaan surprises the group by saying that she will be the one to shoot Henderson during the meeting, putting her own life at risk. But she admits that it shouldn't just be the men who make sacrifices for their country, and so we see her slowly stand up in the middle of Henderson's speech about Indian men joining the British army to fight against the Nazis in the Second World War.

Bibbojaan successfully shoots Henderson dead on stage, but in the scuffle of getting out of the hall, Hamid comes to her rescue and shoots other officers. But Hamid is fatally shot by Cartwright and, going back to save him, Bibbojaan is caught by officers and arrested.

Back at Heeramandi, Mallikajaan is informed that it was her daughter Bibbo who shot Henderson dead and has been arrested, but Mallikajaan is proud of her even though there are set to be fatal consequences for those in Heeramandi.

Being held in a cell, Bibbo is tortured for the names of her comrades, but refuses to give them up, and so Mallikajaan gets word from Fareedan that Bibbo is set to be executed for her crimes the following day.

In an emotional scene, Mallikajaan says that Bibbojaan will be the first martyr of Heeramandi, and so a new precedent will be set that will count the women at Heeramandi as patriots, rather than just merely sidelining them as courtesans.

The women resolve that they will take to the streets to support Bibbojaan even though there is a curfew, thereby risking their own lives.

That night, Ustaad (Indresh Malik) visits Alam in her room to tell her that Cartwright has requested to pay for a night with her. Offended that Ustaad would think that Alam would want to spend any time with the person who killed Tajdar, Ustaad tries to tell her that, actually, this is the chance for her to exact revenge.

He hands her a gun and admits that she's the one woman in Heeramandi that he thinks has the gall to do it.

On the night of Bibbojaan's execution, the tawaifs of Heeramandi and other women take to the streets to march to Bibbojaan. When faced with Indian officers, the women manage to push back before being beaten by an officer. Ultimately, though, they get through to the side of the wall where, behind, Bibbojaan is stood before a firing squad.

At the same time, Alam has left the march with Ustaad to visit Cartwright who is waiting for her. Flinging his bag of money at Ustaad, Cartwright and Alam go to his bedroom, where she shoots him dead.

Simultaneously, we see the women reach the wall, and after Bibbo shouts "long live", the hordes of women on the other side finish off the sentence with "the revolution".

At that point, Bibbo is shot by the officers, and as we pan to her body, we also see that Alam has shot Cartwright (twice) too.

We then pan to the faces of Mallikajaan, Fareedan and some of the other women as the final bit of narration says that after the Indian Independence Act was passed in 1947, there was simply a new struggle for the tawaifs - and that was to live with dignity in the new world.

Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar is available to stream on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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