Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Bollywood: No place for Ladies???

This appeared in B.T. yesterday....
Santa has come and gone. If rumours are to be believed, most of the super pampered star wives asked dear Santa for for just one thing - snow!!! Sacks of it. Why ‘snow’?? Because they love to ski and can’t in Mumbai? No, no , no – this is a different kind of snow. And these ladies don’t make snowmen out of it for their kids. They snort the stuff. It goes up those perfect nostrils of theirs and makes life a little more bearable for them. It’s not easy being a star wife as any number of women married to narcissistic movie stars will tell you. Bollywood wives are having it particularly tough these days, which may be why their behaviour has become so strange and strained. It can get pretty savage out there, and only the toughest survive. The rest exist on snow and other recreational drugs. Scarey scenario, especially for star kids who grow up watching their mothers ( and a few fathers ) throw everything away for those few moments of ecstasy and oblivion.But there are a few good women still left in Bollywood… and it’s a pleasure to interact with their kind. Women who know how to conduct themselves with grace and a sense of decorum, women who know when to open their mouths and more importantly, when not to! Women who remember to wear panties when they step out of the house… you know – the basics! They may speak shaky English, but they are sensible enough not to fake it – either an accent or a relationship. You don’t ever hear them taking pot shots at their contemporaries ( they don’t need to), nor do they bad mouth co-stars ( ditto). They generally mind their own business and go about their lives in a no-nonsense manner, sans drama or extra rona dhona, no matter what the circumstances. The message is pretty clear - ‘Don’t mess with me’. And people generally get it. Does that make these ladies ‘boring’ in an era where you have to be either an obnoxious brat or an out there hottie in order to get noticed? Some would say ‘Yes’. In today’s hyper competitive times, desperate glam girls adopt desperate measures to stay in the news. They know how the game is played these days - talk big, talk dirty, talk rude – and you hit the headlines. Controversy is king. So one can’t really blame the desperate ones for courting trouble, no matter what the cost. But even in such a cess pool, it’s reassuring to come across someone who gets it right, and remains dignified, classy and calm, especially through difficult times.
I was thinking of this while following Liz Hurley’s shenanigans across various platforms last week. Liz is in a league of her own. But at 48, she really does not need to resort to cheap tricks to stay in the news. Having a fling with a serial womanizer is one thing ( she won’t be the first or the last ), but to jump the gun and announce her affair to the world over Twitter, while claiming her marriage is over, is beyond tacky and juvenile. Apparently, nobody who has ever known Liz, is at all surprised by her utter lack of good breeding. This is no lady, laugh her acquaintances, even as she goes in for heavy duty damage control. Poor Mr. Bandhgala ( Arun Nayar ) – some would say he asked for it. But then again… he does emerge as the bechara. And we know how much the world loves the underdog. We need a Bollywood version of Liz Hurley to perk things up a bit. Our married heroines have always played it a bit too safe – at least in public. They specialize in perfecting their boring acts as dutiful, obedient, loyal wives – never mind if they fool nobody, not even their husbands. Imagine if Liz were to fancy one of our top married heroes and swoop down on the guy. Chances are, Bollywood biwis would promptly close ranks and arm themselves against the foreign invader. Who knows? It may still happen. New Year’s Eve is round the corner… and Liz is lonely. A restless Liz is a dangerous Liz. Watch out!!

17 comments:

Divya (Virmani) Chadda said...

Ms. De,
I really liked this artilce but I would like to suggest something to you. If you can write an article on common man and especially about the common man's wife, then people can actually relate to your article. There are many women in this world who get beaten up every night and live in fear of their husband's rage.

Irrespective of what you do/say, their pati-vrata dharam will never change because of the simple reason which is fear of losing their swami and also living alone in our ridiculous, degrading, and absolutely shallow society.

MangoMan said...

Like @ above comment.

JessS said...

LOL. the above readers who want to read about the common man I have this to say: you are in the wrong place! Go talk to your neighbor and listen to his/her life story.

Akshay Singh said...

ths was kind of a rip off from 'starry nights' ;-)
But we love you ma'am ... ! I saw your interviews ( the ones you had posted around christmas)...AWESOME !

Give us some more dirty deatils ma'am ...it's such an esctatic feeling to see throught the glitz , glamour and sexiness of bollywood :-D

Mahesh Misra said...

Closer home, we do have a former Ms Universe exuding uber-attitude coupled with a near pathological dislike for un-married men. Whether she manages to strike at the roots of a star-marriage in the year ahead though remains to be seen.

Hitherto, she has sought serial with errr..."underdogs".

Mahesh Misra said...

Read serial CONTENTMENT

Another Kiran In NYC said...

Liz Hurley wore Bandgala like a fashion accessory. No more, no less. Somewhere deep down, I think he knew that.

Many, many wives know that too... not just the star wives, but like generations before them, they hope to make the best of it. Money and being supported in a certain manner is a very powerful ball and chain.

As a young woman starting out on the threshold of life when everything on the horizon was new, shiny and conquerable, I was quite moralistic and judgmental about many of these women and the decisions they made.

Today, older, perhaps not wiser but certainly more aware, I realize that everyone of us has a has a valid perspective that is not obvious to all. Therefore Good/bad/moral/or not I cannot judge many for the decisions they make.

Being able to snort lines of coke, or being able to send kids to private school... that is sometimes just a payoff. Being able to look good at the best parties in an vaguely (but not threateningly) exotic way... Bandgala next to a bare breasted sari wearing wife... was a payoff too.

Unknown said...

this is one of the most confused articles you've written.
you are contradicting yourself several times in it !

चंद्रमौलेश्वर प्रसाद said...

`They snort the stuff.'

Its Thanda Thanda cool cool :)

Anonymous said...

NAMES PLZ...... THE WHOLE ARTICLE-TILL THE VERY END IS TELLING SOMETHING THAT PERHAPS NOBODY IS SURPRISED TO LISTEN (AGAIN! COMMON MAN INCLUDED)

Anonymous said...

Bollywood: No place for Ladies???
- since?

kakaka said...

for some reason i am bored of these stupid ladies and liz hurley. I watch episodes of koffee with karan online, they all appear to be so intellectual and competitive etc, when you watch their product i.e. their movies it is horrible.
these people are not fascinating like they would like to believe. I am losing interest in these bollywood celebs, it is the same old people on every television show, interview, films, award functions, twitter, everything and they have the same memorized answers, same love life nonsense. In these bad economic times, people need some better inspiration thn these idiots.

pavan said...

I really liked this artilce but I would like to suggest something to you.Keep writing these articles.I am a IT Professional working for agilient solutions(www.agilient.in).

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Yogesh Balaine said...

Are you not entertained !!!

Tired of being a spectator ? Guess it's time to jump into the thick of action.

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