CAUSE OR CLAWS?
Going through my newsfeeds or the trending activity on social media, I usually come across some or the other video about a celebrity speaking on the topic of feminism and the lack of gender equality in the entertainment industry and any other industry for that matter. Whether it is Priyanka Chopra talking about the beginning of her career, where she was repeatedly told that women are interchangeable in the Bollywood movie industry or Emma Watson speaking about the, “ He for She” campaign that outlines the fact that men need to stand up for feminism, I see it all around me! Aziz Ansari’s stand up act at The Madison Square was another instance when a prominent person in the entertainment industry pointed out the gender issues such as someone yelling “Take It Off” when he shared the stage with a female stand up artist.
Last night, I was flipping through the trends on YouTube and I came across an AIB (All India Bakchod) video called, “ The Bollywood Diva” featuring Kangana Ranaut. In the past I have liked most of the content put out by AIB. They are very tongue in cheek parodies of different aspects of life and culture in India. Some of them are quiet funny as well. So I proceeded to watch it.
The video started off in an extremely amusing and straight forward manner depicting how a female role in a movie is considered to be just a supporting one and the director doesn’t understand who the actress is until she uses the phrase, “ love interest”.
It then moves on to show how the actor is given all the importance and the director will do anything and everything for the actor including falling at his feet.
This is the part where this video slowly begins to lose the plot. As is constantly seen in the press, Kangana Ranaut is always and forever at the center of some controversy. One of her pet controversies is with the director and producer Karan Johar and that is the controversy that this part of the video chooses to deal with. So clearly this video has stopped being about feminism or anything for that matter other than her personal issues (which are regarding nepotism, go figure) with said person. It is depicted in a ridiculous manner and has a short parody on actor Shahrukh Khan. Why, Shahrukh Khan is brought into this is a mystery one is yet to solve, unless of course he somehow hurt her seemingly very fragile sentiments and Kangana hasn’t yelled it to the press which is more unlikely than an asteroid hitting the earth in the next minute.
Then begins the main part of the video wherein Kangana Ranaut dances to the song “ Cos I have vagina re”. Now anyone reading this assumes that it is about women’s rights and gender inequities. However such confusion in messaging is unprecedented. Although the video starts off by talking about shattering glass ceilings and issues with objectification of women, it quickly segues off into “ Papa ne tujhko launch kiya re”( Your father launched your first movie in the industry). I’m sorry but how one got launched into the industry has what to do with feminism?
It once again, has everything to do with the controversies and personal issues that Kangana seems to have with various people in the industry, namely Hrithik Roshan (an affair + email controversy where she played the nepotism card) and as mentioned above Karan Johar (who she and in all honesty a lot of people consider to be the king of nepotism).
Further, up until this point in the video, the actor is shown to be parodying Shahrukh Khan. The audience assumed that he is responding to her sing songy arguments against pay gaps and objectification as Shahrukh Khan. While sexism runs deep in the industry and could maybe be attributed to him, as he is one of the leading stars, nepotism simply cannot be attributed to the guy. He is a self made man who began acting in TV serials (when TV shows were not what they are today) and made his way up to the film industry and is now referred to as “ King Khan”. Also he is yet to encourage nepotism himself since his children haven’t come anywhere near the industry yet. His closeness or his relation to Karan Johar is irrelevant in this matter, as “nepotism” isn’t believed to be contagious.
Even if one were to ignore the above argument and cop to her version of the story, nepotism still has no relation to gender in the Bollywood industry. However malignant nepotism might be it seems to be fairly gender neutral. Daughters are launched into the industry by their famous fathers just as much as sons are.
Since this video is clearly dealing with Kananga’s issues and not any one specific problem in the industry, is Kangana going to pick a battle with other women such as Alia Bhatt and Sonam Kapoor? Especially after talking a big game about feminism, one would think that it would one be the tiniest bit hypocritical.
On the other hand, what about Parineeti Chopra who had it easier because her cousin, Priyanka Chopra was already a star in the industry? Is that all right because a self-made woman perpetrated the nepotism?
Of much less consequence, the next few lines, “ main boli tho toone taunt kiya ve” (when I said so , you insulted me)… Isn’t that just human nature? I mean, you are going after this person’s career whomever him or her maybe and implying that they only have a career because their father launched them and they are terrible at their job and have no talent. Do you really expect the person to not react? Also do not kid yourself Kangana. The guys who aren’t considered to be good actors such as Imran Khan get kicked to the curb despite being Aamir Khan’s nephew. Nepotism is not love nor is it “genetic investment” as Saif Ali Khan so idiotically stated. It isn’t blind.
“ Tu karti victim play”. Maybe this isn’t entirely true. Maybe in some cases she is the victim and she is not “ playing the victim”. But the number of times she cries “ discrimination” and “ nepotism” either she is just the most victimized human to have walked the earth or clearly she is contributing in some way to these strange things that seem to be happening to her. It is extremely hard to believe especially since there are other women out there such as Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma who are as equally “self made” as Kangana and they aren’t kicking up sand and dirt on people every chance they get.
In fairness the arguments that she does make purely about feminism through the video are extremely valid. Especially the reference to women being called “ ballsy” when they are “ brave” and men being called a “ pussy” when they are considered to be behaving like a wuss. Womens’ pay checks having less zeros and their constant objectification from the actual movies to the covers of magazines is another very pertinent point made by this video.
In conclusion, I firmly believe this video is an extremely self indulgent piece of work that Kangana seems to have used to send a message to people in the industry under the garb of spreading feminism. What’s even worse is after all this, all she has to say at the end of the video is “ I had nothing to do with the lyrics of the song in the video” and “ Please go watch my movie Simran”. The only thing worse than this blatant plug is the fact that so many of her arguments just don’t make sense.
Anyway, way to go Kangana for passing off the digging of your claws into people and personal vendettas as a legitimate cause. You truly must be applauded for doing so and plugging your movie all at the same time. Kudos to all your “clawses” which make sense only to you and leave most rational beings befuddled as to the purpose of your multiple messages, connected seemingly by self interest only!
(SEPT 12TH 2017 - SHARANYA NARAYANAN)