Indian Media Bash Blog

“Lights! Camera! Action!” This is repeated countless times across the tinsel town where “stars” dance to the tune of the music (or whatever ugly version it is) for the consumption of masses, all in the name of “entertainment”.

Fact is that porn is pervasive in the media and has reached prime time slots. Families watch the pelvic thrusts together with their kids; flashes of flesh has become the norm and acceptable. The music videos are fuelling the latent desire by churning out the mind numbing crap on a conveyor belt.

In this backdrop, the reach of the media has been God sent to the eager beaver in the small towns and cities which are beyond the collective consciousness of the residents in metros. Well insulated from the “cocaine snorts”, the small town dude laps up the videos and generates demand. The impressionable girls feed the hungry latent demand for the “content” by confusing the make believe world as reality and end up as fodder for the hungry sharks.

Pornography is debatable because of subjective variations. There is no clear cut definition which could put across pornography in black and white. However, logically speaking, “hints of cleavage”, “pelvic gyrations”, “looking hot and sexy” only harden the stereotypes in the minds of people consuming content in the name of entertainment.

The ugly face of the tinsel town rarely comes out in the open. Some enterprising news channels created a splash by setting up spy cams and “exposed” in the name of “serving the public”. I wonder as to how it really helped?

We have been transformed into a nation of voyuers, thanks to the media. The mainstream media would be at pains to describe India as the land of Kama Sutra; and that our attitudes have been defined as such since ages. However, history, as usual has been misrepresented and Kama Sutra, by any strech of imagination, isn’t divine. It was the result of the Hindu kings devoted to excessive fanfare who commissioned the figurines; the exquisite carvings for their own depraved consumption. This was the downfall of Hinduism and Hindu kings as a whole.

Coming back to modern times, the arguments for airing the half nude (or well clad in bikinis), is specious. I wonder whether it leads to salvation/liberation for the “modern women” something that publications like Times of India, Cosmopolitan or Femina would go at extra lengths to crow about. “30 secrets to tame your man” looks good in glossy covers and month after month they seem to suggest that this is what the “modern woman” needs. The “Miss World/ Miss Universe” competitions has hoisted upon us silicon enhanced, skinny malnourished females who are a blot on the collective feminism and divinity of womanhood.

Unfortunately, the present depiction of women in media as sex objects has lead to depravity. Crimes against women are touching all time high; gang rapes are order of the day in the capital of India. Are we unleashing the repressed sexuality through this channel?

Porn per se, remains the individual choice. It all boils down to whether one likes it or not. However, there ought to be an underlined difference between consensual sex and “unhealthy” attitudes towards it. This needs a concerted education campaign to drop the Victorian morality and mindset. This is unique concept in Indian society that we are content on having kids running around us, but eschew any talk about sex in the open. We call it as hypocrisy. Legalising porn is one way out, but then this is separate issue.

Given the way media publicises porn (or soft core as we would call it), it remains a perfect platform for someone to launch themselves on the mainstream imagination or become “popular”. Smart media managers handle the strings via “contacts” with the producers. It just works in the well oiled machinery.

We had to endure Mallika Sherawat on NDTV “debating” about the “kiss scenes”; Rakhi Sawant on CNN-IBN and Aaj Tak to “explain” her point of view. Their “acting skills” are next to nil and their “popularity” is directly related to the “shortness” of their “clothes”. Mercifully, they realise that their shelf life is limited and would soon be replaced by some other “enterprising” and “daring” B grade “actress”.

We live in interesting times for sure. Some day, I am sure that people would need a change from the present state of affairs. Or it might get worse in direct proportion to the morons multiplying in this nation.

Update: This has been crossposted in Desi Critics.