Feminine Logic

Theres a new Munni in town with Kareena Kapoor,Madhuri Dixit,Deepika Padukone and then some more,at her beck and call. This one is from Phas Gaye Re Obama and does a mean turn,meaner than Malaika Arora Khans gyrations in Dabangg. She has grown,bulky men running scared of her as opposed to the lusty lumpen gentry surrounding the other Munni. In short,the two are as different from each other in spirit as chalk and cheese.

The choice of films and characters they play therein remains a tricky territory for actresses. Broadly speaking,heroines either have to be glamorous or not. The former involves the obvious donning the grease-paint and getting into the pelvic thrust,song-and-dance routine with the leading man. This is the safe route,and while actresses may speak of meaningful roles,most would happily settle for the tried-and-tested glam-doll image. This after all,is the choice that pays rich dividends in terms of popularity,the huge pay-cheques and a demand for stage performances galore. Those following news reports would have noticed that on-screen Sheila and Munni are reaping rich benefits from the shimmy-n-shake-your-booty numbers from the respective films. Contrast this with Vidya Balans rustic raunchy turn in Ishqiya earlier this year. This lusty village widow is no merry wife and certainly did not make it to the top-drawer item girls this season. No invites to this one for live performances at weddings or New Year celebrations this year. Is it surprising then,that most actresses opt for size-zero personality on-screen,happily letting the leading man carry the weight of the movie on his shoulders while they gamely pitch in with bosom thrusts and hip swivels. Its a foolproof formula that works like a charm every time. Of course,this dependence on the leading man has begun to get tiring.

Recently,a superstar was wondering aloud on why actresses based their choice (of films) on the lead male actor as opposed to their own roles in the film! But its clearly not a thought that bothers the fairer sex. As one of them smartly put it,if they have to be content with half or even less the salary of their male counterparts,it was only fair that the burden of the success or failure of a film should not rest on their delicate shoulders! Cant fault that one on logic.

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Risk-averse they may be,but our actresses are certainly not short on smarts…

And while the popularity of Hollywood movies continues to be on an upswing,the American Dream in India is on the wane. Or at least thats what our movies are telling us. There have been films in the past like Chalo America that pre-empted the southward swing but of late,it seems to be the popular notion. My Name Is Khan,Tere Bin Laden and now Phas Gaye Re Obama are all representative of the changing image of USA among Indians.