There she stood, at the cliff top, dancing around her lover, girating her hips and claiming her never-ending love for her beloved.
This is the image of the bollywood heroine in 1983.
The bollywood heroine I grew up with looked Indian and in most cases wore a sari.
She played an important part in our lives. We did not want to be her, but in most cases liked what she represented. For the children of non-white migrants growing up in a western society it was sometimes a difficult task looking for role models. The image of beauty we were bombared with in advertising was of women who were tall, blonde and had blue eyes. We used to wonder how the rest of the community, especially the brown people could be 'beautiful'.
Bollywood films gave us this. Desi beauty, fashion and love were presented to us. It was a place where brown women were beautiful. Where the men would fight and die for the desi woman. Looking back, those vhs tapes gave us so much more than dancing and singing, it was a place desi beauty was celebrated.
Sridevi- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XplYZEUqfiU
Shabana Azmi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=243wjJ_Z8yI
Parveen Babi interview- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znDwCIKYjcU
Tribute : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k21iGFay5OA&feature=related
Great post. Quoting you "it was a place where desi beauty was celebrated". Not anymore. What are your thoughts on extreme Westerenized images of today's bollywood leading ladies. They are getting taller, thinner, whiter, and claim to have a size zero figure!!
ReplyDeleteYes,'it was a place where desi beauty was celebrated'. In the last twenty years, hindi films have embraced and emulated all things 'western'. From the clothers, values and in particular, it's beauty. Indian actresses now where lens for the lighter eye colour and then there's another chapter the changes to skin and hair colour. I feel in India's race to become the super power they've been happy to let go of the 'backward indian desi look'.
ReplyDeleteI think it narrows the world's view of beauty and makes it's hard for desi women to feel beautiful.On the other hand, the only people who seem to love a celebrate dark beauty are the South Americans who always seem to produce winners on the ms universe stage.