April 14th, 2014

She Shakes!

She Shimmies!

She BRINGS IT ON

The Bollywood Bad Girl!

God Help us all...

Once upon a time in Bollywood cinema, it was clear who was the 'bad girl.' The heroine was always beautiful and 'pure as the driven snow.' The bad girl, of course, was the villaness, or a side kick who made a bad choice, and got what she deserved. It's part of the Bollywood trope, same as the requisite four or five song and dance numbers. In Bollywood cinema, these days, there is a huge trend towards hot and sexy 'item girls.' As a result, there is a are more overt sexual images and scenes of rape and abuse.

There is probably few on the planet who haven't heard about ONE young woman who was raped, mutilated and thrown from a moving bus in Delhi. I don't have words to describe how disturbing that is. How many don't make the news? No Country for Women.NOTE Article: No, perhaps it's no use blaming Bollywood movies - entirely. No, dear Bollywood directors, actors, financial backers, and avid film goers, there is a much, much deeper problem. However, I don't think it helps the situation. Case in point....An actress dances, sandwiched between two male dancers. They all shimmy and shake, spasmodically, like wind-up toys. (This shot way past titillating to rollercoaster barf-bag for me). AND THEN, one of the men winds up and slaps the girl and drags her away, cave man style!That's right!  SLAPS HER AND DRAGS HER AWAY!What's the message here, people?I've seen the slapping thing occurring in other mostly benign dance music videos too. They just toss it in there. What is with that? Who are they targeting? Men who have little or no chance of actually having their own girlfriend or wife? (And we all know why that problem exists, don't we?)No, it's not an easy topic to talk about. No amount of covering it up is going to make it go away now. The citizens of the world have internet, Facebook and Twitter. Everyone is aware of the problem and damage control will not work.Bollywood's foray into trashiness may not be the cause of gang-rapes around India, but if there was a more equal ratio of men to women in India, which would certainly show that there is a some sort of value of women, maybe this would not be considered a problem. ....mmmmm. No. Slapping, dragging and abusing women overtly in cinema is a problem, regardless.N,K. Johel