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A new article from The Pioneer. Please read and comment!
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Bharatiyata Aishwarya
By Sidharth Bhatia
The Pioneer
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
There is a school of thought that claims that Aishwarya Rai is not a human being at all, but a three dimensional computer model, designed by a geek fantasising about the perfect woman. No real person could be this perfect, and since this sceptical world will not believe that an apsara has landed on earth, the only explanation is that she is little more than a series of lovingly-created pixels and computer programmes in Silicon Valley or, more appropriately, Bangalore.
This is of course a joke, but what is not is that Aishwarya Rai has emerged as the definite female icon of our times, maybe not a role model quite yet but a symbol of Bharatiya womanhood. She is obviously gorgeous, but who knew that she could also suffer silently and yet be graceful about it and when the time came, show that she
is tough yet forgiving.
The actress handles personal traumas-emotional and physical-with quiet determination and stoicism, all the time managing to look ethereal and composed. Despite that beauty, she is not a sex symbol, but retains an almost sisterly or, at best, bhabhi-like [elder sister-in-law] aura; someone you wouldn't want to sully with sex, but rather want to protect and look after.
How did it happen? How did a beauty queen, in a land where there are more former international beauty title-holders than former Prime Ministers, and with no great demonstrable acting talent-even her most ardent fans will admit she is plastic and limited on screen-succeed where all others failed? Who remembers Diana Hayden, Lara Dutta and Yukta What's her name?
Aishwarya too began badly-does any remember her early foray into films, an atrocity called Jeans? But today she is at the very top and climbing.The gossip press (and she gets reams of coverage in the so-called prestigious papers too) claims it is because of the behind-the-scenes management by her ambitious mother, who seems to be a modern version of Hema Malini's Amma. But Aishwarya herself is far from dumb; for, it must take more than good looks or even talent to come this far, you need to be shrewd too.
Aishwarya's accident made frontpage news. An offer to act in a James Bond film (not officially confirmed, by the way), is a cause for a national debate: Should she accept a role which will require wearing a bikini and perhaps kissing Pierce Brosnan? And now, her not-so-secret relationship with Salman Khan is out in the open; in true filmi form, she is the delectable bone of contention between a superstar and a wannabe, who has perhaps smartly realised the advantages of linking his name with
hers.
Aishwarya, instead of issuing mealy mouthed denials, gave a reasonably frank statement, putting Salman behind her (and thus tacitly admitting to a relationship), and the entire nation was charmed. Her fame has spread into public life, far beyond the box office.
Aishwarya's filmi oeuvre so far does not show any great histrionics. Many of her outings have been real disasters, creatively and commercially. She can dance and smile at the camera, but so can many others; indeed, a Karishma Kapoor lights up the screen far better than Aishwarya, and has shown she can boogie with Govinda and also turn in a creditable performance in Zubeida or even Biwi Number 1.
But we do not remember Aishwarya for Jeans or Aao ab laut chalein. Her iconic status rests mainly on two films: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas.
In both these films, her image was that of a woman torn in love-between two men in the first and with an unattainable man in the second. In both these films, she was dressed up in gorgeous silks, with tonnes of jewellery and all the accroutements of a traditional Indian woman that is found only either in books, movies or now, in television soaps.
The K-series of television dramas has brought visions of that mythical woman into our homes, but the small box cannot do what a large film screen, in the darkness of a theatre, can: Create a larger than life notion of what the ideal Indian woman is, or at least should be. This demographic cannot be taken lightly: It is of crucial importance to political parties and consumer goods manufacturers alike.
Purists can scream and shout about the travesty that is the modern-day version of Devdas-was Paro really that glamourous and rich?-but the film maker is making it for the new middle Indian, not the nostalgist.
Bimal Roy's Devdas was a loser in the eyes of today's film-going audiences. When they see Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas, they forget that because they are dazzled by the costumes, the opulence of the sets and, above all, by the sadness in Aishwarya's green eyes.
Why, they don't even notice that she cannot act. For, she is the epitome of the Bharatiya nari. At one time, Nargis in Mother India would have symbolised strength in adversity and purity in dirt, but those times are long gone. Today's woman, while fighting the fates, must never have a hair out of place, her sindoor disturbed or her pallu shaken or stirred, whatever the circumstances.
The nation can therefore legitimately ask the question: Can such a woman's purity be sullied by an association with a Salman Khan? She is pure, he is crude; she is an apsara, he, for all his superstardom, is a mohalla ka goonda [neighborhood goon]; she is a Hindu, he is a Muslim (he would have insisted on converting her, horrors!) Apart from acting in films, they have nothing in common.
What is more, Salman Khan has been misbehaving (and frankly, what else could be expected from his kind?) His brattish off-screen antics are public knowledge: Illegally shooting a black buck in Rajasthan, allegedly driving over people sleeping on a pavement and, it now comes out, even abusing Aishwarya Rai physically and emotionally.
Aishwarya may have been in love with him at one time-and, reading between the lines, it is apparent that it was a two way street-but that was when she was young and immature. In any case it is over. Now she must concentrate on her career and look for a suitable boy, from a high caste, well settled, (preferably with green card), with a good family background and with whom she will produce two adorable children. If he is living with his family, so much the better. She cannot waste her time with sidey actors or in two bit roles; sensing that, perhaps, she has already doing a Bengali film based on an old classic, a shrewd career move.
Aishwarya Rai doubtless understands that she is national property now; that in her rest the fantasies of an entire middle-class, with their many social, political and economic implications
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