Risqué Affair: There’s nothing subtle or coy about sexuality
In the Oscar nominated flick, The Wolf of Wall Street, a group of stock brokers including Leonardo Di Caprio decide to let post-work related steam off by indulging in a steamy session with high end escorts. The scene gets raunchy, with daring twosome and threesome acts, all under one big happy roof. In international movies and some plays, sex is so in your face that it has almost lost its shock value.
In the critically acclaimed musical production, The Book of Mormons, that is running to packed houses at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre, the audience hooted in appreciation and roared with laughter every time the scandalous African song, “Hasa diga eebowai,” which translates to “F— you, God,” was enacted. It unearths dangerous myths where men with AIDS believe that if they have sex with virgins, it would heal them. There are men with enlarged penis prancing on stage, constantly venting about the lowly state of their scrotum. There are clearly no prudes in the auditorium coz this is not a play for the uptight moralist.
And if you are already squirming in your seat, then don’t bother checking out Apple’s latest iPhone 5 ad. It correlates the gigantic phone with a gigantic penis and highlights the joys of a penis which inspires men to go out and buy the phone, obviously punning on ‘big is in’.
The penis in fact is no longer confined to men’s underwear. It’s out in the open, proudly flaunted by Japanese men at the Kanamara Matsuri, in Kawasaki. This festival of the steel phallus is a joyous celebration of penis and fertility where revellers suck on penis lollipops, buy penis-themed memorablia and happily pose with penis-shaped sculptures. It seems like the world is evolving in one direction as people of all colours sing in one language.
In Munich, nudity is now legal and there are six designated Urban Naked Zones in parks offering privacy but not far away from the public glare. So you don’t have wake up at daylight and streak like the late and gutsy Protima Bedi did in the 70s. It may have caused an uproar then and perhaps nudity might still be classified as an act of insanity in India, but across the world, people are not just shedding their inhibitions but their clothes too.
India is gradually learning to stop beating around the bush (pun intended). So, you will find movie stars indulging in double meaning dialogues on Karan Johar’s show or the host himself talking about his not so happening sex life rather openly. It is here that Vidya Balan has talked about being comfortable with her sexuality. She should be, after she played the sexy Silk Smita in The Dirty Picture where she not just talked dirty but heaved and flashed her ample bosom and thrust her hips and drove men crazy. On the show, Farhan teased Vidya saying that she would get noticed if she attended a promotion wearing only an un-ironed tie.
Not one to miss a beat, Vidya retorted that she would love to do that, while Karan who often forgets that he is not having coffee in his living room, endorsed Vidya’s decision saying she is quite capable of walking around in just a tie. Vidya was absolutely bindaas and wicked on the show. When Karan talked about her nose ring being criticised at Cannes, Vidya retorted, “I don’t see how ‘big’ is a problem.” Karan said he liked the large nose ring, and she wickedly quipped, “You like big things.”
She talked about gaining weight and showing love handles in The Dirty Picture and being called sexy. And coolly admitted, “Everybody likes sex, but how many admit it.”
Double meaning dialogues are found even on shows like Comedy Nights with Kapil, with a national cricketing legend like Sunil Gavaskar demonstrating a woman’s gait while running and how different it is from a man’s. The obvious reference here is to the female breast that comes in the way and makes women run the way they do. But does anyone in the audience sitting there squirm? Not at all, it leads to uproarious laughter.
And now that sex is the selling point of global cinema, Bollywood is cashing in heavily on this trend. Intense lovemaking scenes that last longer than several minutes are the new best-sellers. Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh’s scorching real life chemistry came alive on screen in Ram Leela. Actress Parineeti Chopra may act coy on Karan’s show and say she has no boyfriend, but that shyness is not visible on the big screen. In fact she can easily be identified as the queen of lovemaking. Right from her first flick Ishaqzaade, where she unabashedly made love to Arjun Kapoor, to Short Term Romance, where she smooches and makes out with Sushant Rajput, this gutsy actress is certainly not afraid to flaunt her sexual passions. “Even in Ishaqzaade the scenes were important. The whole story takes a turn after those scenes. We have to showcase something from real life,” she says.
Parineeti is echoing the current trends where Bollywood heroines do not hesitate to shed their inhibitions. And clearly, sexual acts are seen as a natural part of romance. Parineeti’s co-star, Arjun Kapoor has made out with not just Parineeti, but Sasha Agha in Aurangzeb and Alia Bhatt in 2 States. Says the 27-year-old actor, “I believe films reflect reality and in reality youngsters are bold. If lovers can kiss and hug in real life, what’s wrong with doing it onscreen, aren’t films a portrayal of real life? For example, 2 States is a youth-based film and reflected today’s youth’s mindset. The intimate scenes were filmed in a very natural way; there was nothing vulgar about them.”
So, now sex, cuss words and overt sexuality are being marketed to the masses through every conceivable visual medium including social networking sites. And coyness be damned, India’s sexual revolution is on the verge of a big explosion. Time to celebrate the big O!
