Thursday, August 30, 2007

The Missing Woman

A long time childhood crush of mine just had a baby daughter, leading me to experience a probably inappropriate twinge of regret that yes - she is well and truly gone. Indeed, it was the sight of her cavorting around on a rainy rooftop in a yellow sari that has probably fueled the testosterone-laden attraction of many a guy towards voluptuous full figured Indian women - now immortalized by Youtube.

However, as I lately purvey the tripe that now masquerades as 'Indian' movies - I see that this sari-clad beauty is now an endangered species. For example, in a song that brings the Canadian-Pakistani talent of Adnan Sami along with Kareena Kapoor, the scion of the famous Bollywood clan, you have this.

It seems more and more Bollywood songs now have our hero dancing with a backup crew that consists of people fitting one job description - you have to be a foreign, blonde female with an attractive figure that you will barely adorn with clothes. For example, the main attraction of the song Kiss Me Baby (yikes, English!) in the movie Garam Masala was this.


A rating of PG-13 on this blog prohibits me from placing some more pictures as example (also because I have a disk quota from Blogger) but you get the idea.

In affectionate remembrance of the truly desi woman, who died an untimely death circa 1990s. Deeply lamented by a large circle of admirers, Bollywood watchers and horny teenagers.

As an aside, I wonder if the large number of foreign women dancing to the tunes of brown men (literally) feeds some hidden desire of us desi men to control the exotic Other Woman. Go to the Facebook album of any of the resident desi "Studs", and you will see one typical picture.

In the club. Beer in hand. Foreign (usually White) Woman on arm.

I have seen even black men who have white girlfriends subconsciously introduce them around as if they are some kind of trophy. I wonder why.

8 comments:

Rawi said...

I, too, have wondered why. The answer is probably more complex than most of us realize. However, I heavily recommend that you read a short novel, translated from Arabic: Season of Migration to the North. One of the best books ever written, and one that I think you can relate to very deeply, as did I.

Anonymous said...

wid all the jokes aside,u raise a gd point mezba.i ve seen the trend of skimpy cld white women dancing around indian heroes,rising high n high fro the last 7 yrs or so.its sad but my point is y do we have to have semi naked ladies dancing in the first place.sari can b attractive too.

Aisha said...

Interesting. I dont watch Indian Movies anymore. I was turned off by the weird western clothing and the strange aerobics dancing. BUT now its taken a step further towards the increasingly unrealistic and absurd. But I guess its what the people want? I dont know.

Aisha said...

Hmm, and the article pointed out that this is her SECOND, so I guess she was really and truly gone two years earlier ;)

Ahmed said...

I haven't watched many Indian movies but I miss that they for the most part aren't family friending viewing anymore :(

Recovering D said...

And you know what the latest status symbol is among desi gals-the hot gora stud! I'm serious. It's becoming the cool thing, albeit not something to show off on facebook (but to whisper secretly to girlfriends over secret cocktails) about your escapades with a hot gora athlete, or a ahem well endowed black guy ;)

Anonymous said...

I haven't watched much of bollywood movies since '98. I think I watched 1-2 movies per year. And when I did, I was *shocked* at how things have changed. I was also a big fan of Raveena but now she seems like so ancient, hehehehe. The storylines don't make much sense but I still do watch SRK's movies if I do get a chance. :) sf

mezba said...

Rawi: I will try and see if I can get the novel - what is it about?

Umarah: exactly. And nowadays you can't even go to the "Family friendly" movies without cringing at some of the songs.

Aisha: I like dancing! It's cool. But I would prefer more shapely women in clothes than shapeless without. See also my reply to Ahmed.

Aisha: Yup, she was truly gone.

Ahmed: yes, just what I was replying earlier, they are not that family friendly anymore. I guess we wanted more realism in Indian movies and that is what we got!

Abcdlaw: haha I too know how vanilla can sometimes be preferably than chocolate to some girls.

Sf: Ah Raveena. I must have watched her and SRK's movie Zamana Deewana a dozen times! Not to forget Mohra.