Over the past two days I have been following your tweets. Two of your tweets on Bollywood and the stuff depicted over there got me thinking. In one of the tweets you have said - "Do Item numbers not vet instincts?(Munni songs)Is it nt commodification of a woman's body?Does it not impact vulnerable minds? Any research". And in another of the tweets you say - "In d past I recall there were blatant Rape scenes in movies!Now those r subtle! Replaced by blatant exposure of woman's body to d maximum!"
I personally ma'am, am not a great fan of Bollywood. But while reading your tweets I had a few thoughts all of which could not be accomodated in the miserly 140 characters that twitter provides us. Hence this post.
To start with here are a few questions of my own - Who dances in the so called 'Munni songs' of Bollywood? Agreed that there is eventually a male director or producer somewhere but who danced in the famous 'Munni song' ? Who agrees to blatantly expose their bodies? Again I agree that there is a male somewhere in the picture but; who is eventually coming on screen and exposing their bodies? Is it not the actresses, the women in the film industry? Of course they charge a lump sum to do that, but that is out of scope here. Has any actress refused to do an item song or a rape scene or for that matter any scene because it involved too much exposure of the body? Are not the women then (read actresses) contributing towards commodification of their own bodies when it comes to Bollywood? Have you ever ma'am spoken to any of the actresses and asked them why do they expose so much on screen, especially since you think that it impacts vulnerable minds? Have you ever asked them why are they contributing towards commodotising a woman's body? I would love to hear the responses if you have indeed spoken to some.
Second, I am not sure but I assume that when you said 'vulnerable minds' you probably meant men whose minds could get easily corrupted by how a woman is depicted on screen. But, have you not seen school girls or college girls gyrating to those same Munni and Sheila songs in functions, dance competitions and reality shows? I am pretty sure that a few of the noble women present at the protests in Delhi would have done that sometime or the other. Would you call those minds vulnerable as well?
Third, do you think that it is realistically possible to ask the Bollywood actresses not to expose on screen (and off screen as well) and start covering themselves from head to toe? Is it realistically possible to prevent the young school and college going girls from watching the item songs and later hum those same tunes and dance to it?
Science magazines may suggest that watching TV and movie violence changes brain function. But is it significant enough to actually make a person do something which he/she does not intend to do? Would you deny if I said that TV and movie violence is less important, rather inconsequential, but it is the surrounding environment and the circumstances which primarily shapes or changes brain function?
Let us face it. We find ourselves in the situation that we are in today because we always tend to focus more on the symptoms than the root cause. We tend to get carried away by the noise and forget to look at the main issue. Changing Bollywood to show only 'sati savitris' will not change anything. Showing less violence on TV will also not change anything. What we as a nation should eventually concentrate on is education, counselling and striving to improve the general living condition of the people. It might not show immediate results in the short run but in the long run things will definitely take a turn for the better. And therein lies the problem. Everyone in our country wants immediate results, immediate gratification, be it the politicians in the parliament or the person out there on the street. Especially our politicians, because long term policies never wins you elections, does it?
Also, next on my reading list is 'I Dare'. I apologise for not having read it earlier. Now since you have said that the book documents how gangrape is preventable, I am all the more curious.
But the book sure does not say watch less bollywood and TV, does it?
I personally ma'am, am not a great fan of Bollywood. But while reading your tweets I had a few thoughts all of which could not be accomodated in the miserly 140 characters that twitter provides us. Hence this post.
To start with here are a few questions of my own - Who dances in the so called 'Munni songs' of Bollywood? Agreed that there is eventually a male director or producer somewhere but who danced in the famous 'Munni song' ? Who agrees to blatantly expose their bodies? Again I agree that there is a male somewhere in the picture but; who is eventually coming on screen and exposing their bodies? Is it not the actresses, the women in the film industry? Of course they charge a lump sum to do that, but that is out of scope here. Has any actress refused to do an item song or a rape scene or for that matter any scene because it involved too much exposure of the body? Are not the women then (read actresses) contributing towards commodification of their own bodies when it comes to Bollywood? Have you ever ma'am spoken to any of the actresses and asked them why do they expose so much on screen, especially since you think that it impacts vulnerable minds? Have you ever asked them why are they contributing towards commodotising a woman's body? I would love to hear the responses if you have indeed spoken to some.
Second, I am not sure but I assume that when you said 'vulnerable minds' you probably meant men whose minds could get easily corrupted by how a woman is depicted on screen. But, have you not seen school girls or college girls gyrating to those same Munni and Sheila songs in functions, dance competitions and reality shows? I am pretty sure that a few of the noble women present at the protests in Delhi would have done that sometime or the other. Would you call those minds vulnerable as well?
Third, do you think that it is realistically possible to ask the Bollywood actresses not to expose on screen (and off screen as well) and start covering themselves from head to toe? Is it realistically possible to prevent the young school and college going girls from watching the item songs and later hum those same tunes and dance to it?
Science magazines may suggest that watching TV and movie violence changes brain function. But is it significant enough to actually make a person do something which he/she does not intend to do? Would you deny if I said that TV and movie violence is less important, rather inconsequential, but it is the surrounding environment and the circumstances which primarily shapes or changes brain function?
Let us face it. We find ourselves in the situation that we are in today because we always tend to focus more on the symptoms than the root cause. We tend to get carried away by the noise and forget to look at the main issue. Changing Bollywood to show only 'sati savitris' will not change anything. Showing less violence on TV will also not change anything. What we as a nation should eventually concentrate on is education, counselling and striving to improve the general living condition of the people. It might not show immediate results in the short run but in the long run things will definitely take a turn for the better. And therein lies the problem. Everyone in our country wants immediate results, immediate gratification, be it the politicians in the parliament or the person out there on the street. Especially our politicians, because long term policies never wins you elections, does it?
Also, next on my reading list is 'I Dare'. I apologise for not having read it earlier. Now since you have said that the book documents how gangrape is preventable, I am all the more curious.
But the book sure does not say watch less bollywood and TV, does it?
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