Sensuality Never Needed CLEaVAGE-Shot!
Indian cinema’s history tells us some of its most celebrated leading ladies became icons through talent, charisma and screen presence — not skin show. Filmmakers like Buchi Babu and the likes need to change their mindset. Gone are the days of Raghavendra Rao kind of movies where the heroine’s navel was given prime importance!
Does success in cinema require a heroine to be sexualised? Film history offers a compelling counterargument. In the past, actresses reached the top without shedding their clothes or being objectified on screen. In the past, all the screen queens were idolized by their fans without being targeted for on screen voyeurism: Nargis, Madhubala, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman , Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, Sridevi, Jaya Prada, Jaya Sudha, Soundarya… Even among the contemporary actresses Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Alia Bhatt, have made a name for themselves without being objectified on screen.
Sridevi Kajol and Kareena Kapoor could look extremely sensuous fully wrapped in a saree. Deepika Padukone’s fans were shocked when she was sexualized for a song with Shah Rukh Khan in Pathaan. She has vowed never to go up that street again.
Says Kareena, “Look at Kajol in that song Suraj hua madhyam in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, or Srideviji in the song Tere mere honthon pe in Chandni… they blew the screen apart without any skin show. My mother-in-law (Sharmila Tagore) in that song in Aradhana, Roop tere mastana was covered from head to toe. She was the epitome of sensuality. I believe, being sensual on screen has nothing to do with wearing revealing clothes or being objectified.”
When actresses put their foot down
Yesteryears’ queen Asha Parekh says the amount of skin show today is crossing all limits. “I remember once a director asked me to wear a revealing costume for a dance number. I looked him in the eye and asked, ‘Would you be happy if your daughter wore this costume?’ The dress was quietly dropped. The heroines today are so beautiful, they don’t need to objectify themselves. Look at how aesthetically Sanjay Leela Bhansali presents his heroines. They look so beautiful in his films. The same heroines are used differently, exploitatively, by other directors.”
Jaya Bachchan says the aesthetics of sensuality on screen are entirely subjective. “Nobody ever dared to cross the line with me.
I had only one unpleasant experience of being objectified by the director. I never worked with him again.” The incident which Jaya refers to happened during the shooting of Manoj Kumar’s Shor where she played a streetwalker. The director wanted her to sport a ghagra-choli throughout: the actress insisted on putting a dupatta on her upper body. This led to an ongoing dispute between them.
Taapsee Pannu says the boundaries of objectification are entirely up to the individual actresses to decide. “As long as there is a camera there will be awkward angles. One just needs to be selfaware.”
Filmmakers Crossing limits
Manoj Kumar was one such filmmaker. In Roti Kapada Aur Makaan, Zeenat Aman was soaked in rain in a skimpy saree which left little to the imagination. The camera caressed her curves in closeups.
The objectification of Zeenat Aman went even further in Raj Kapoor’s Satyam Shivum Sunderam, where onscreen voyeurism reached a pinnacle with the camera peeping into the heroine’s bosom through a see-through white saree. The voyeurism in Satyam Shivam Sundaram left nothing to the imagination.
Zeenat Aman who was known as Hindi cinema’s biggest sex symbol says she didn’t mind being objectified. “I had the figure, so why not flaunt it? But I have to admit that looking back at the films of mine which you mention, it was a bit too much. I doubt I would do those scenes the same way if given a chance to re-do them.”-
