We live in a strange world. Pictures of mindless violence, brutality and savagery hardly pass muster but world leaders bussing each other on the lips appear to have convulsed nations.
And now we have Ektaa Kapoor and Vidya Balan offering up a south Indian siren’s biopic as their calling card at the box-office.
Many moons ago, before larger issues sought her attention and comment, Arundhati Roy wrote a series of searing articles on Shekhar Kapur and his rendition of Phoolan Devi. Though Kapur’s film was sympathetic to the hapless dacoit and her many travails, there were many who felt it was exploitative.
At the time of filming, Phoolan was alive and Roy’s contention was that her permission hadn’t been sought and that many of the scenes would have been deeply embarrassing for her. Roy hinted that in appearing to champion the cause of an exploited woman, a victim of circumstance and ill fate, Kapur himself had further exploited her.
I fear the same is going to be true of the Silk Smitha film.
Is there any among us who believe that naming the biopic Dirty Picture is something of a coincidence? That it has been so named without an accompanying sly wink at the box office? Would you have named it Dirty Picture?
I don’t want to appear too high-minded about it. Sure, along with the rest of the audience, I too will shed silent tears at the end of the movie when the violins begin to play and the credits start to roll.
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Sure I will think about Smitha’s sad life and the injustice of it all when a hapless young woman is co-opted as the projection of other people’s fantasies; and, of course, who cannot be moved by that hoary old tale about the prostitute who is led to her ways out of desperation and circumstance.
But who is to say that this is not a subtler (and more objectionable) form of exploitation? And yes, Ektaa and gang, in a bid to infuse an edgier tone, have gone to town claiming that Smitha, rather than being a silent passenger on this Sex Express was, in fact, its driver.
I have watched one too many promotional exercises where Vidya Balan, in a bid to resurrect her career and recast herself in a new avatar, has heaved her bosom in mock tribute and said many silly and regrettable things about Smitha “liking it” and “wanting it”.
How does she know? Did Smitha tell her? Is any of this authentic or conjecture? Is there anyone who has a whit of inside information on what went on in that girl’s head? And does the fact that her brother has objected to this depiction count for anything at all?
Our lives are complex things. Only we know when we are being exploited, treated fairly, abused or enhanced — and some times not even that.
But perhaps the most fundamental right is to have provenance about our feelings and to own them ourselves
Though I commend Ektaa and Vidya for attempting to bring into the public mindspace the story of a woman who they claim was unafraid of her own sexuality, it will be a shame if there motives are cynical and self serving.
It would mean that Smitha was exploited in death as she was in life.
Malavika Sangghvi is a Mumbai-based writer malavikasangghvi@hotmail.com