BY BISWADEEP GHOSH
Salman Rushdie needs a Gabriel Garcia Marquez for an inspiration. But then, he is a great writer. Writers such as yours truly whose claim to shame lies in some insignificant books are inspired by lesser beings naturally. Risking a digression, I had informed many of you that smallbigworld shall restart from June 1. But destiny decided otherwise. The site has taken off today, all due to an impulsive reaction to Mallika Sherawat’s presence. She wasn’t with me – I do not wish to be so lucky – but with the martial arts star Jackie Chan who must have had a ball playing the lust action hero alongside the Haryanvi sherni in his forthcoming film The Myth. (While shooting for it, I am sure all the myths about Indian conservatism would have gone bust!)
Coming to the point, Mallika’s dress sensation in Cannes just drove me nuts. Did she need to wear the top that she was wearing to begin with? Blame it on my prudish sensibility, feel free to rip apart my inability to appreciate the aesthetics of semi-dressedness. But how much did she have to show to the world to tell everyone that India had ‘arrived’ because, if people were to equate her outfit with what Indian women wear in their day-to-day lives, the assumption could very well be that our ladies wear hardly anything at all! If that sounds fatuous which it actually is – one of the advantages of writing in a personal site – if a foreigner were to believe that Mallika’s outfit defined the parameters of glamorous dressing up in India, wouldn’t that be utterly, gutterly shameful?
Look at the other two Indian women in Cannes. Nandita Das isn’t pretty in the conventional sense, but she has carried herself most gracefully all through. Aishwarya Rai is breathtakingly beautiful but, while her badly made outfits received a lot of flak last year, she has more than made up by wearing classy dresses this time. As for Mallika whose pictures will be all over by the time you read this, I feel like writing an email to her right away. Just one sentence, which will go thus: “Dear Mallika, titillation need not be interpreted so literally.”
6 comments:
Saw the photograph and believe me, She would've looked more decent in the nude than in such a dress
I think you've wasted your time and space on a national nonentity aspiring to be an international figure like Mallika Sherawat. Frankly, whatever she may do, she doesn't deserve any mention -- praise or criticism.
And you seem to be really naive to think that after seeing her in whatever she was (not) wearing at Cannes, foreigners will be thinking about Indian women and their dressing. Come on, they are mature enough to know what a film star wears need not be the dress code for the entire nation, especially a developing and conservative country like India. Remember Padmini tried to portray such image of India earlier when she kissed Prince Charles on cheeks when he visited India in 80s? The Royalty is not convinced about the progress of India yet.
To the comment on the fact that the foreigners know what Indians wear and that I was immature in saying that they did not, let me tell you that it was said in jest. (It has been specifically stated that I am fooling around while making the remark.) But yes, Mallika's outfit can be mistaken as a statement of Indian high fashion very easily. Just need to inform the writer that even today, despite the satellite television, many in the US can ask you questions like whether or not elephants still roam around in the streets of India.
Briefly, how much India has changed is still unknown to many. Besides, the attack was on Mallika Sherawat because she has redefined what provocative, attention-seeking dressing can mean. And to do that, she chose Cannes!
Hi Dawnzone,
Thanks for the criticism. A few things. Firstly, I am not against revealing dresses and am thankfully aware that this is not the Victorian age. But I have no hesitation in reaffirming that Mallika looked out and out vulgar and, that too, in Cannes.
Secondly, even if Govinda were to wear the outfit you have discussed, I would not have spared him.
When Govinda was out for campaigning during the elections, did he go there wearing a multi-coloured pair of trousers? You should dress in Rome as Romans do right?
Dear Dawn,
Have to be precise because I have resumed work after a while. You say Ash's costumier is a fiasco. This time Ash has been circumspect and she looked prettier than Salma Hayek who sucks according to you I am sure.
I do give a rat's ass to what Govinda wears and how he spoke in a political podium for precisely the reason that you have articulated. Even a joker must know when to pull up one's socks and, sadly, Mallika doesn't.
I don't think there is anything wrong with revealing dresses. Salma Hayek wore it, so did Penelope Cruz, and for that matter, Aish on day one when she wore that black outfit. Have you seen the difference between them and Mallika?
Cannes has decayed as an institution. But despite the degeneration, I have not come across a single actress who looked the way Mallika did. A woman can sizzle and be classy at the same time. These words are not mutually exclusive are they?
I don't think there is an absence of moral rectitude as far as Madam M goes. What she lacks is the ability to carry herself with dignity which the world saw. That you disagree puts you in a minority but then, that is the way intellectuals are supposed to be. They must take a stand nobody does and pretend that is unique.
Hi Dawn,
So you have traversed across mofussil streets for a quarter century am I right? So you know I work in an air-conditioned office right? So you know I carry the burden of inflexible, parochial prejudices correct? So you believe that you are an autodidactic creature, the tribe I also belong to am I right?
Firstly Dawn. I don't think the word intellectual should be hurled with such feckless abandon. Intellectuals happen very rarely, and neither you nor I belong to the category. (If you were one, you would not be taking my views on Mallika Sherawat so seriously! Where are your science fiction books?)
Dawn, I know that you have spent a lot of time in journalism especially in the print media. And, you are the one who has spent most of his life in several air-conditioned offices because you have changed many jobs. Right now, I work in a city that offers me immense peace but there is no air-conditioner at my workplace. So you have got it wrong, Don of All Things.
I don't believe in being didactic, but I do believe in adhering to my convictions when I am convinced something is seriously wrong. Mallika is India's posterior abroad, and that was evident from a tabloid pic in Britain which showed her from her behind which was even more bulging and said: To become a star, she needs to work from rockbottom!
Waiting for the minority report,
Bish
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