Bollywood's cleavage revealed

Once upon a time, when Bollywood was still known as Hindi Film Industry, the character sketches of Heroes, Heroines, Villains and Vamps were very different then the present ones. A Hero was the one who respected women and elders and could sacrifice all he had for his love. Chivalry was an essential trait. Heroines too were the typical 'Bhartiya Naari'. That was an era when peeping toms and playboys were villains and revealing dress worn by Vamps still covered their skin with 'skin'.

CUT TO! And from flashback we are back to present...where peeping toms and playboys are our 'Bollywood' heroes and female leads bare everything. Item numbers with zoom-in close up shots of cleavages and other fleshy female body parts has become common 'masala' in Bollywood movies. The time when advertisements could be seen with whole family is past, today most ads try to sell products with the tadka of SEX. Surely we have come a long way...from being a conservative society to a modern one. No?

Sex sells... and so even serious news papers, in their Entertainment section include 'eye-catching' pictures of celebs. Many 'conservatives' have been cribbing about Bollywood and media's obsession with sex and its adverse effects on the society, since long... a reality check came as Times of India's post about Deepika Padukone's cleavage. - the circle is complete.

The most shocking thing about the article was that whatever little cleavage was visible, was due to the bird's eye view angle of the camera. The cameraman/woman sure had some voyeuristic tendencies. Also, the heading too was absolutely ridiculous and crass. It was a welcome change to see Deepika Padukone give ToI a piece of her mind. Someone had to show such news papers a mirror. Soon #IStandWithDeepikaPadukone was trending on twitter.

But wait. Now that we have shown ToI its place, who will do the same to Bollywood? Bollywood actors did not lose time in supporting Deepika...but isnt this the same Bollywood that thrives on Item numbers and display of flesh and 'bold' scenes?

Remember the tagline used for a movie titled 'Ragini MMS'? ... "have you seen Ragini's MMS?"...where was your outrage back then, Bollywood celebs? A naked Aamir Khan standing with nothing but a transistor, a nude Sunny Leone laying naked covered only with a translucent sheet, some actress (whose name I wont even bother to google) sits almost naked on a bed displaying her bare back with her waist covered with a bedsheet - these are not just some movie scenes that pass through but posters that stayed for months on huge hoardings...and these are only 3 amongst innumerable such posters. This is the same industry which is plagued by 'Casting Couch', exploiting males and females. How does then Bollywood dare claim moral high grounds?

Here are few more question - what enraged Deepika Padukone? Was it about her modesty or was it about her consent? Its obvious to assume that it was about her consent, since there are many pictures of her from her photoshoots that give a better view. If such is the case, shouldn't Bollywood issue a guideline for press making it clear what should and what shudnt be published? Oh, but wouldn't that conflict with Bollywood's own interests? What a dilemma!

Deepika in one of her tweets also talks about respecting women, but how does one demand respect for what she/he objectifies? Oh damn! Another dilemma?

Bollywood has for long encashed on masses' obsession with flesh and sex...seems like its time to taste their own medicine.

Supriya Sule : Feminism or Tokenism?

Surfing news channels for my daily dose of current affairs while sipping late morning tea, a lady answering audience questions on ABP news caught my attentuon. This was Supriya Sule, daughter of NCP suprimo Sharad Pawar, in a program titled 'Ghoshnapatra'. Political biases aside, I must say I was impressed with the grace with which she answered some serious and tough questions, may it be about Farmers' suicides in Maharshtra or Dynasty politics.

What caunght my attention was her answers to two differnt random questions, that strangely connected on one subject.

A gentleman in flowery words questioned her about Dynasty politics. Obviously, this was directed towards her own 'Pawar-house' (*hint, pun). To which she gave example of R.R.Patil (Home Minister Maharashtra) who has no political background. Also, she mentioned about Nationalist Congress Party's efforts in incresing women's participation in politics right from grass-root level and how they have reached out to Women in rural Maharashtra.

After few other questions, another gentleman pointed out that often her name is mentioned as a candidate for the post of Maharashtra's CM...will the people see her as Maharashtra's first female CM?

The answer to this question is always a shy denial, but the way she denied was what impressed me the most. "I am against any kind of tokenism. A female CM does not guarantee safety and security for women. Uttar Pradesh had a female CM (Miss Mayavati) for four terms and we all know about the situation there." - She denied and NOT!

She cleverly denied any sexist ethusiasms and left the question on CM's post unanswered. We all know what an unanswered question means.

Every now and then we see people demanding more posts be headed by females, since that would ensure soltion to women's issues. Is this not sexism...against women? Are we saying a person should be given a certain post and celebrated only becuse the pronoun associated is 'SHE'? In doing so are we not undermining that person's talents and capabilities? And most importantly, drawing from Supria Sule's words, aren't we trading Feminism for Tokenism, thereby opening new ways for women to be exploited? (Remember how Lalu Prasad Yadav used Rabri Devi as a remote control? Oh, those who'd call it misogynitic Male dominated Society's treatement of women, remember Manmohan Singh's case?)

There is a thin line between all these 'isms'... let us not forget this in our enthusiasms for whatever sex we favour.

How Deepika Padukone turned TOI into TOIlet paper

It all started with Times Of India's Entertainment section tweeting about Deepika Padukone's supposed cleavage show. The article was just another one in the line of TOI's ever falling level of journalism, a fresh attempt at finding new lows. Making news headlines on some celebrity's cleavage is in itself far from appropriate, to begin with. Moreover, it was pretty clear from the thumbnail in the tweet that whatever little cleavage was visible was due to the 'bird's eye view' angle of the camera.

Reacting to this, Deepika Padukone tweeted along with the above screenshot in a firm tone.

Had TOI played dumb on this, they would have been in a much better state, but as the old sanskrit saying goes,"Vinaashkaale Vipareet buddhi", TOI decided to practically add fuel to the fire with its reply to Deepika :

The next two tweets by Deepika Padukone totally earned her my reapect. If only we had more of women like Deepika who would dare to stand against such acts of Assholery and give them a good whooping that they deserve, human society would be in a much better shape!