‘Queen’ and ‘English Vinglish’:Adventures of Indian women

Gone are the days when one use to see movies only at the time of release or re-release. With advent of technology one can grab the CD any time, download the movie from intenet or simply wait for the satellite release. Therefore I happen to see two movies : one ‘Queen’ and the other ‘English Vinglish’,  long time after their theater release. It was striking to note that both the films potray female Indian protagonists mustering courage to go out and encounter the foreign cultures without being aided by their male partners.The stories were definitely in sync with the changing india and fast changing Indian values.

First lets consider Rani of ‘Queen’. She sets out on a solo honeymoon after being dumped at the altar by the groom. Solo honeymoon is a strange idea and in conservative India, it would never be approved for the young girls who have never been out of their towns. Her parents agree for the sake of her happiness and on the trust that she will be with some distant relatives of theirs. Instead, Rani chooses to lodge herself in the same hotel which is booked for her honeymoon stay. She makes friends there and finally sets out of Paris to visit other European city on her own.  While on tour she hesitantly stay puts in hostel with three male roommates eventually befriending them. She also accidentally happens to regenerate the interest of her groom in her and he starts following her for winning her back. She goes on to win a challenge in a cooking show and gains a confidence of lifetime which she lacked throughout. Finally the assertive and confident Rani decides to ditch her groom for good.

The case of Shashi is little different in ‘English Vinglish’. She is a typical middle class Indian housewife but enterprising enough to run a small business of making laddoos. She is mocked at by family members due to poor knowledge of English. She feels alienated in her own family since she is in constant company of English speaking kids and husband, who take her for granted eveytime and underestimate her ability to learn. She makes a maiden trip to America for her niece’s marriage without accompanied by family, who plan to join her lately. She ends up joining a tuition for English speaking in order to keep her engaged. Her adventure of discovering of urban American culture while doing tuitions remains a close secret except one of her niece who knows about it. She goes on to make good friends in tuition class and impresses one Frenchman enough to like her. When her family surprises her by turning up early in America, her remaining classes and final examination is likely to be missed out. She arranges secretly to appear in examination, which falls on wedding day, but circumstances compel her to miss it.There is more in store as the entire bunch of classmates and her tutor turns up at wedding at the invitation of her niece. She introduces them to her husband as good friends. He is still unaware about her tuitions. She delivers a speech after the wedding, wishing the marrying couple well in life while highlighting the importance of mutual understanding, family and kids. She does it in English, which surprises everyone. Tutor treats the speech as examination speech and awards her the certificate. She regains her respect and love in the eyes of her  family, which was about to be lost just because of a poor understanding  of a foreign  language. Happily and smartly she assures her husband of her love, who is visibly shaken due to a suspected bond between her and the Frenchman.

Underlying message to the world and to the Indians  is that there is a class of people in India who is preparing themselves slowly but surely for facing the world.This is compelling need of the hour for some who are either pushed or pulled in to the circumstances. This is a baby step towards making a big section of society ready for the world. Both the protagonists in films, teach us that you can embrace new things without compromising Indian values. In fact both of them display their strengths to the world and win the hearts.

We want more: Indian’s love for plump girls continues

Indian men are fascinated with plump girls. There should not be any second opinion about it. The fascination of Indians is reflected in the success of the actresses they love to see on the cinema screen. Right from the beginning of the show business and the era of ‘girls playing roles of girls’, Indians have loved to watch their curvy dreamgirls dance to the tunes of mood elevating music. Exception was brought in by Zeenat Aman, who probably was the first actor to showcase the western idea of beautiful body. She was slimmer, duskier with universal features, yet was completely Indian in attitude and mannerism.  Her contemporaries like Parveen Bobby continued the trend. Changing ideas of health and beauty with the changing cultural attributes of Indians and cultural sensibilities, it was expected that there will be more beauties with universal idea of beauty, ruling the Indian silver screen.

Idea of liking fuller beauties is essentially Indian as we can some exemplary features of sensuously curvy bodies in age old sculptures and Ajanta paintings. They definitely are representative of Indian choice. This age old idea runs alongside a cult love for ‘odd ones’ like Zeenat and Parveen. But it is safe to say that they were never the first choice of Indian masses as their times were ruled by ‘heavy weights’ like Hema Malini and Rekha. Even after the slimmer beauties came in, there has always a scope for fuller ones as their reserved space in Indian minds cannot be replaced. Even today we have the likes of Sonakshi, Parineeti, Vidya Balan, Sonam Kapoor, Huma Quereshi and busty south Indian actresses ruling the minds and hearts of their fans. 

Even foren beauties like Katrina and Jaqueline are tall and burly though not plump. I even believe that Kareena was loved till she was typically healthy looking Punjaban. She failed to ‘satisfy’ her fans the moment she presented herself in ‘zero figure’.  

The ideal choice of Indian men is the one, who satisfy their wish to see Indian girls dancing in western clothes, don bikinis, wear amrapali suit and yet appear gorgeous in rich silk saree with gajra in the hair. That’s the way to demand best of both the world. However, the broader mind set of Indians in the recent years, is reflected in growing number of couples with desi girls in bikinis tops on Goan beaches, with mehndi on the legs. It simply means traditional marriage is followed by honeymooning on beaches in western attires.

Alternatively, I think the idea of ‘healthy beauties’ is universal that’s the reason why Englishmen tell their ‘fuller mates’ that they have ‘more to love’.