There must be a special kind of entitlement bubble that Bollywood’s top brigade lives in to make them give sermons to the public while knowing that the public currently hates them for their hypocrisy more than ever.
Even senior artists, who should ideally share wiser notes on quality cinema and call out horrible practices in the industry including its rape-celebration genre, are lining up to defend lewd and cheap content. Worse, these senior professionals claim to be feminists but do not say a word against Bollywood for continuing to use actresses as sexual commodities to promote films.
Case in point – Ratna Pathak Shah and the outrage surrounding Pathaan (2023).
The actress recently said in an IndianExpress interview, “People don’t have food on their plates but can be outraged about clothes someone else is wearing…I would say we live in very silly times if these are the things on top of your mind.”
She was responding to a question seeking her views on the ‘Besharam Rang’ song from film Pathaan in which lead actress Deepika Padukone is seen dancing salaciously in skimpy saffron beachwear to seduce a much older Shah Rukh Khan. The number has offended many groups, including Muslim organisations.
Shah didn’t comment on why people should watch her upcoming ‘Kutch Express’ (her debut in Gujarati films), or for that matter any Bollywood film, if they didn’t have food on their plates!
A version of this article was first published on Gems of Bollywood here.
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