You Got Male!

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Is the new Indian woman looking 'differently' at the male? Is the new Indian male looking 'differently' at himself? Is voyeurism suddenly going unisex? Monojit Lahiri probes the new-age phenomenon firing up ad-world!

Actually, Salman Khan started it all. Declaring a flamboyant fatwa against shirts, he converted flaunting his bare-chested, well-toned machismo into a sexual statement that drove a zillion female fans wild while earning envious looks from the guys. Today its come to a situation where (like the gasp-pant Zeenie baby of the seventies) many can’t recognise ‘Sallubhai’, fully clothed! Presently John Abraham’s red-hot number in Dostana, is giving both hotties Shilpa and Piggy Chops a run for money! The way his languorous moves have been choreographed and the passionate love-affair the camera seems to conduct with Johnny-boy … man, ‘you got male’!

Beyond Sallu, John, and SRK’s sexy 6-pack abs flash, Ranbir’s (oooops!) wardrobe dysfunction in Saawariya and Aamir’s new, killer body in Ghajini, lies a slew of ads saluting the male form – with women, actively co-opted as enthusiastic participants! Be it the Euro Brief slugs where the young dude gets ‘assaulted’ (with lipstick marks!) the AXE effect TVCs, Moods’ condom ads (where the babe nibbles her guy’s ears) and the latest Akshay Kumar’s lethal unbuttoned ad, the male, suddenly, is taking centre stage and women seem delighted to play avid, rah-rah audience!
As the song says, what’s goin’ on?

Gushes the Delhi-based ad veteran Esha Guha, “As the ad says, why should boys have all the fun? For centuries, women have played dedicated objects of desire to men’s hungry eyes. Isn’t it time to hit the role-reversal button?” The ‘unputdownable’ Guha argues that in today’s world where women go eyeball-to-eyeball with men in the professional, financial and social zone, why should they suddenly play cute n’ shy away from the delicious sport called male-gazing!

Young copy-writer Payal Sinha is delighted (“Wow, Some Lady”!) at this response from someone who represents a generation who, (mostly) would reach for smelling salts before attempting to coherently articulate their (Shock? Disgust?) opinion. “I think our generation looks at the very concept of sexuality differently – the urban, middle-class, educated community, that is. There is neither the hush-hush, behind closed-doors factor, the sex-is-sin belief, nor the shy, feminine, mega blush-flush at the very mention of the S word.” Payal elaborates by saying that the new-age woman is pretty savvy and clued-in and with the huge exposure in the public domain – TV, movies, radio, Internet – as well as everyday life and living, the male body is (normally) not totally alien country!

Creative Director Moon-Moon Dhar joins the party with unbridled ecstasy! “This stuff was long overdue and I have no hesitation in saying that I went to Dostana just to ogle! Johnny-boy was truly an eye-candy!” Toning the pitch down a bit, the bindaas mother of two believes that today’s men too are less self-conscious about flashing-flesh or getting paranoid if their partners drool. “My hubby is, by turn, amused or threatening to get those 6-pack abs, very soon. It’s cool.”

Home-maker Vidya Baluja feels like throwing up! “My god, its blatant sexism, male-style … and it’s so much more yucky!” She believes that there are certain areas of life, which indeed exist but should be celebrated only in the private space. “All this dramabazi exhibitionism is so vulgar! Sure there will always be a lunatic fringe that will wow the toned and chiseled male form but generally speaking, most sane, balanced, intelligent women will view this new-age disrobing of inhibitions in a startled, amused and embarrassed way.”

Journo Bina Khanna adds her spin to it. “I really think too much is being made of this male-gazing – thanks to the Dostana factor – and it’s more media-generated than real!” Khanna believes that the recent hungama is because traditionally, its always been the politically correct thing for men to drool, salivate and play the raging-hormone voyeur. Suddenly (Globalisation? Gladrags?), there has been a change in the mindset among a segment of society that have woken up to this role-reversal and embraced it with unholy glee! This has toppled the apple-cart and brought something hugely private and hush-hush tumbling out of the closet into the streets…

Khanna could well have hit the nail on the head. The new-age woman is different from her mother-in-law in many ways, mindset, heading the list. She is socially, intellectually, financially and professionally up there with men and suffers no complex about it. Individual liberation through sexuality is emerging as a major tool to break feudalism in society. Also, in an age of suppressed libido, celebration of the male body by women is liberating, balancing the man-woman equation and making commodification of culture a two-way street. Besides, in a time and age when women are breaking every mould in life and rewriting the rules of the game, it’s time to celebrate choices, stop living in a man’s-idea-of-woman world, go with the flow and coin a whole, new and exciting word – DIRECT MALE!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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20 murders a month and counting: Bangalore's new face

Surprisingly, 20 murders even before the first month of 2009 is over does not rattle the Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidari. “This is not a new thing. Bangalore usually witnesses over 20 murders every January and there is no need to create hue and cry over it. Moreover, if we compare it with last year’s statistics, there were more murders last year,” said Bidari.

For the Commissioner sahib, 20 murders in a month is not a serious matter, especially in a city with a population of 75 lakh and which has seen 22 and 19 murders in January 2008 and January 2007 respectively. Moreover, since police cannot guarantee security to each and every individual living in the city, the citizens themselves have to make sure they stay out of harm’s way, Bidari advised. Though the Police Commissioner has assured to start the investigations soon, the promise holds little hope. The file containing a 12-year-old murder case of an elderly couple in Jayanagar is still gathering dust in the police station. Though the police have already launched their investigation in the recent double and triple murder cases in Jayanagar, they give little assurance of safety and security to the residents.

“A peaceful sleep is all we ask for. Who will provide us security to enjoy that?” Raghavendra’s million dollar question hangs in the air. ....Continue

“If I have done wrong, hang me!”

Your popularity is going up among people all over the country. A Marxist MP from Kerala was punished for praising your work. Are you aware that you have fans in all parties?
I am aware of this. Even people who publicly criticise me have noticed my work. But I am really surprised that the Kerala MP was punished.

Looking at Gujarat, many feel that you could do wonders for the nation if you were made the PM.

I have studied political science and know how such talks have ruined many top leaders in the past. I will not fall into this trap. I am content with what I am doing.

So, you do not wish to think beyond Gujarat?
I feel that by serving Gujarat I am serving the entire nation as well.

If ever you are made the PM, what would be your priority?
First of all there is no ‘if’ and ‘or’ in politics.

But you must have thought about something for the nation?
I think of the responsibilities I have, which is Gujarat, and I think of various plans for the betterment of Gujarat.

Any single economic policy which you would like to bring or introduce in India?
In Gujarat, development work is moving in the right direction. I want balanced growth, which means 30 per cent growth for all sectors: industrial, agricultural as well as service. The logic is, if there is famine, the other two sectors can contribute. During recession, the agricultural and service sectors can shore up the economy.

Somewhere you had mentioned that security-related personnel should go through forensic examination to enable the government to know if the candidate has chosen this career to serve the country or not.
I did not say such a thing. I said forensic science labs should do commercial activities. Nowadays, corporate houses study psychological profiles of potential CEOs, because people are constantly switching jobs. So, I suggested that forensic science labs can do this to grow their business.....Continue

Save the last dance

“Since the colonial times, our forefathers have been Kalandars. We too earned a decent living through bear and monkey dance performances. But about three to four years back some private organisations started harassing us. They said that we cannot pursue this work unless we have a license. We went to Lucknow to get ourselves registered and obtain licenses for our work. For some time we could peacefully pursue our work, but soon the same social organisations started taking the bears and their cubs away from us. Close to 2500 bears have been taken away from us and for some, we haven’t even been paid any money. We were also promised alternate sources of income by them, but nothing materialised. They took our bears away and gave us false hopes of a government job and opening shops or buying auto rickshaws. At that time whoever refused this bargain, was beaten up by the cops. Some of our old folks were even beaten to death!

I wouldn’t say that we haven’t got any money at all, but paying the school fees for six or seven months every two years or giving us five thousand rupees for a wedding isn’t sufficient. We haven’t been given any job yet. Around twenty-five men in our family are unemployed and I don’t know how many more are there in the entire Mathura zone. We really don’t know what to do... We sometimes set up small shops (pheri) or take the monkeys around for dance shows but this doesn’t fetch us enough money to run the house. It is not even close to what we can earn from the bears. We kept our bears like family members. Some of our bears survived for as long as twenty years. The animal was feeding our family and we never kept it unhappy. Whenever they had infections or fell ill, we gave them herbal treatment and even took professional medical help. In fact, I want to know about the 2500 bears they took from us. The two centers of this organisation don’t have as many bears. So where are they? People say that they trade their parts to international markets for good money.....Continue