The moral policemen are out again. In fact they've always been there. It's just that they go in a consensual hibernation to surface again to stamp their presence. Or importance! An advocate Dakshinamoorthy filed a PIL in a local court in Madurai on February 10th this year against actresses Shilpa Shetty and Reema Sen for allegedly "Posing in an obscene manner" in photographs published in a Tamil Tabloid. "The pictures will mislead youth and result in increase in violence against women," the petitioner said. Non bailable warrants have been issued against the two actresses and the editor of the Tabloid.
This is not the first time that the cultural zealots have held the celebrities to ransom. The Milind Soman-Madhu Sapre Tuff Shoes Print Advertisement where their nude frame has a snake for company or the morphed nude photograph of actress Pooja Bhatt gracing the front cover of a gossip magazine, PIL filed against the alleged nudity on the posters of her film Rog, outrage against Shekhar Kapur's Bandit Queen, violent reservations against alternate sexuality in Fire or vandalizing the sets of Deepa Mehta's Water. The list of intolerance goes on and on. So, what exactly is it? A publicity stunt to gain milage for a political party. Or is it moral policing in twenty first century?
"We need to rethink our laws and question our so-called 'tradition'. We need to trust ourselves to decide for 'ourselves' "Burn at the stake all those 'moral policemen' who delude themselves into believing that they are saving India from moral damnation in the name of 'duty'". Because when an 'ignorant' man is doing something that he is ashamed of, he always declares, that it is his duty," says actress-producer-director Pooja Bhatt.
Shilpa's father Surendra Shetty countered the allegations by saying, "The photographs were taken from the stills of a Kannada film Auto Shankar, done by Shilpa a year ago. And the pictures were published by a Tamil eveninger. The Censor Board had already passed the film and we fail to understand, what's the big deal in a photograph where she is wearing a saree and her navel is being shown! The petitioner wanted some publicity and he got the same when the TV channels gave mileage to him. It's a bad precedent that is being set for exploiting celebrities."
Milind Soman excused himself from speaking anything about his own case as "The matter is still subjudice" but he sympathized with his 'friend' Shilpa. Actress Preeti Jhangiyani took sides with the two heroines. "Girls are more vulnerable to such things. I think all this is rubbish. Shilpa is a mature actress. All this is being blown out of proportion," she said.
Perky item girl Rakhi Sawant defended the two girls in question in strong words. "Reema Sen doesn't have the body to expose so why should a non-bailable arrest warrant be issued against her. As for Shilpa Shetty, then I think she knows her limits and would never expose before photographers. If it would have been Mallika Sherawat or Neha Dhupia, then it may have been justified as they expose. I feel it's nothing but a publicity stunt," she says. Rakhi herself was up in arms with the law recently when she was booked for indecency during a stage show in Kolahpur. "When I do the same dance movements in music videos and they are played nationally then what's the problem when I perform on stage," she says.
Producer-Director Vinod Pandey who has made bold but aesthetically sound films like Yeh Nazdikiyan faced stiff resistance from a section of Christian Clergy for his films Sins. "I think it was all politicized. If there was any cause for concern then I should have faced protests in Kerala where a huge number of Christian population lives. But nothing happened. So, why stop my film in Mumbai?" A more recent example where religious sentiments resisted the freedom of expression was Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code that once again incited the Christianity Community. The release of this Tom Hanks Hollywood blockbuster was deferred by a week as the certain 'details' related with Jesus Christ in the film were found to be incorrect and were allegedly distorting the actual history.
Moral Policing or Publicity Stunt. The Big Fight lingers on. It's time Bollywood had the guts to show a united face and counter the assault of the illogical. For it is not one man's problem. It can happen with anyone.
