Monday, June 13, 2005

Representative of Indian Women

I am no fan of Aishwarya Rai's - I think she is too plastic, more like a Barbie doll than a human being. Her acting sucks, her dancing is like watching a robot, and the emotions she portays on screen are simply pathetic. So, in short, I simply can't stand her being the 'representative of Indian women' as I have a lot more respect for Indian women than that.

But why this topic? Because in her desperation to get slotted into Hollywood, the lady in question has been very visible on many English channels lately. And each time, she comes off worse than before. First, she was at Cannes, wearing a black dress which simply paled in comparison with Nandita Das' red saree. Then she assumed a 'call center' accent in her interview that was telecast on NDTV profit. And finally, on Oprah, there was a complete makeover and she finally showed her true h(c)olours.

No doubt she has the right to do what she wants. She has the right to be desperate for a Bond movie role. She has the right to wear a black dress and strut like a peacock (wow! India's national bird) in front of the western media. She also has the right to feel happy about being rated the 9th most 'beautiful' women ever.

What she and her lackeys don't have the right for, is to portray her as a symbol of new India. For all her 'greatness', she isn't. The symbol of new India is not a peacock strutting its feathers. It isn't a lady who is ashamed of her Indian accent and upbringing. It certainly isn't an actress who cannot act.

5 comments:

kattricker said...

Cant agree with you more Gops. I was in US when she appeared for the David Letterman show. In her attire she wasnt a wee bit Indian, and as you rightly said her accent was embarrassing. Best part was still to come - for a question about "What all languages do you know?" from David Letterman, she answered (in verbatim) "My mother tongue tulu, hindi and broken tamil". See that she never mentioned Kannada (I am sure she must know it broken atleast). David replied "Over here we speak english!!" as a sarcasm over "oh, you forgot to mention english!". She never got that joke, and the audience were hysterical!

Balbir said...

Gops, Karthik, I am surprised by your views. Would you guys wear dhotis to office?

Come on, lets evolve, lets not burden people with our culture. Culture is something to be proud of, not to impose or expect.

Gops said...

Ballu,

You are missing the point again. Neither Karthik nor me consider ourselves representatives of Indian men. Nor are we potrayed as such. So, why we don't wear a dhoti is our personal matter. I agree that what she wears, or how she behaves is her choice - except that it is a problem when she has such a title conferred on her. So, my tirade is also against those newspapers that crowned her as the "representative of Indian women". And when you accept such a title, and want to be known like that, shouldn;t you have some distinct Indianness in you?

H said...

Is this the TOI which is portraying her as "Symbol of new India " ?

Anonymous said...

Not just them - it is the entire western media as well as IE, and other more popular papers.

--Gopal.