Sunday, August 11, 2013

Women in Bollywood: What they say makes a difference...

When it comes to our Bollywood Divas, there are quite some ‘Beauties with Brains’, whom we salute. And then there are some beauties who have managed to prove by their choice of words - hogged, penned and exaggerated by our over inquisitive media, that the ‘Dumb Blonde’ term is after all not just a cliché!

We Indians love our movie stars almost as much as we love our cricketers. But when it comes to some Bollywood actresses, their complete lack of knowledge on women issues in the country coupled with their equally poor choice of statements that actually do more damage to the state of women rather than uplift it, is truly shocking. Now these are people who can truly use their celebrity status to help matters along - they can empower women, they can uplift and support many causes and they can truly make a difference. And some actually do.  We only wish that more celebrities had the brains to match their beauty; call it wishful thinking...

Here is a look at some of the statements that have managed to catch our eye and either left us impressed, or completely appalled.

Quotes We Love:
“Remember the women in your life made you who you are. Love and Respect them”                 -Jacqueline Fernandez

“Right from the time we girls are born we are taught how to behave, how to dress, how to sit, how to act...in fact which colour to like (pink!). Why can’t we teach our sons, brothers, fathers and husbands how, not to harass; abuse and make a woman’s life a living hell...”                                             -Raveena Tandon

“Each character I portrayed on screen has had the strength, passion and dynamism of the woman of today. That’s what I really love about the characters I have played, they represent real women with real problems and how they get past them in relevance to today’s society.”                                 -Perizaad Zorabian

"Am I supposed to be ashamed that I am half-Asian, I mean, no! Rahul Gandhi is half-Indian, half-Italian. So? I am very proud of what I am and I just don't understand the confusion as if I'm trying to hide the fact that my mother's a British. Why would I?"                                                         -Katrina Kaif

These quotes have really impressed the nation, especially women. Some of these actresses have proved time and again through their roles, emphasizing the nature of our male-dominated society that its time women broke the shackles that makes them subverted and subjugated by the men in their lives. When these celebrity actresses speak in favour of women, celebrate their role, sing their praises, it indeed matters a lot.

We love the fact that Jacqueline Fernandez talks of the importance of respecting the women in your life, and Raveena Tandon has taken a stand to rebuke the male dominated society we live in and talked about how it’s important for us women to teach our sons and husbands more about respect for women. The fact that Perizaad Zorabian is proud of the many controversial roles she has played because they stand for something important is truly appreciable, and we love the fact that Katrina Kaif has the courage to stand up for what she believes in, even if our conservative society might think that her status of being half-Indian makes her below par to other actresses, despite how well her movies might do at box-offices.

When the nation hears these celebrities speaking in favour of women, their roles and their carefully chosen words reinforcing the true strength of a woman, the message reaches out to more people, making a real difference in the long run.

Quotes We Abhor
“As a girl, I am this stupid emotional very loyal, sort of believe-in-values-and-principals sort of girl”   -Priyanka Chopra

“We, Indian women, get too carried away with our personal lives with rearing our children. We feel that we are the only mothers on the planet." She further added, "And, we believe we have to leave everything to bring up our children. Actresses need to pull up their socks and keep looking great and working out... and keep looking younger than what we are." -Rani Mukherjee, taking a dig at Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

"Guys pls don't take Shobhaa De seriously. She's a fossil who's getting no action and going through menopause. So just for her...(sic)." -Sonam Kapoor, insulting Shobha De

For all these Bollywood Divas, we ask - Do you really think before you speak? Why evoke a debate with your controversial and bold statements that do not really help with your popularity, but rather make you look stupid and anti-women in general?

We Indians are proud to be good mothers, isn’t that what really separates us from the Western culture? We think that Rani Mukherjee’s statement is truly detestable, considering she isn’t the fittest actress who has bothered to really maintain her looks anyways! What’s this obsession with looking younger or slimmer and more beautiful, anyways? Instead, we salute Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for being a REAL woman, who didn’t really run back to the gym and try all the Fad diets possible to lose pregnancy weight within a few months to start looking gorgeous again, but rather settled to enjoy motherhood in its true essence.

On the other hand, we think that both Sonam Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra need a few lessons in manners! It’s detestable to insult a senior celebrity, that too someone as gifted as Shobha De on a public forum. And for PC, all we have to say is that associating a woman’s ‘emotions’ to ‘being silly’ is not cool at all! It’s emotions that separate women from men, and are the true source of our strength. And thinking that ‘being a believe-in-values-and-principals kind of girl’ is something to not be proud of is even worse!

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