Sex, Seduction and Sheila

"My name is Sheila, Sheila ki jawaani.. I am too sexy for you, main tere haath na aani... no no no NO! Not this song again. Since the day it released a fortnight back, all I have heard is this one song. If by gods grace its not on some radio or TV channel, then it'll definitely be on the lips of some passerby. Forget audio-visual, this song hasn't even spared the print media, with daily analysis and public reviews about the song. And don't even get me started on the online discussion forums and social networking websites, which seems to have found a new obsession of coming up with daily comparisons between this and its nearest competitor - 'The Badnaam Munni'. So much so, that even the Music channels now play both the songs in quick succession, for what I believe is to aid comparisons.

All this obsession takes me back a couple of years to the 'Kata laga' days when one tattooed girl shook the country with her seductive and audaciously bold moves when she entered the pub with a stamp on her upper chest and bared her navel with such ooze that put the whole nation on fire. As for the first time in many many years had such a daring, provocative, 'female led' video been produced. Thus giving a rebirth to the Indian chapter of Item numbers (which in its classic meaning implies highly sexualized songs with racy imagery and suggestive lyrics). But while there had been many item songs with an alluring female lead before, it was for the first time, that one had been so 'bare'fully forthcoming. Piya Tu Ab To Aaja(1971), Jawani Jaaneman(1982), Choli Ke Peeche(1993) had also been item numbers garnering huge audiences; but none of these did it with the amount of sizzle, seduction and boldness as portrayed in the Kata Laga Number or the ones after that. Chadti Jawaani, Kabhi aar kabhi paar, Pardesiya (that shot Rakhi Sawant to fame) flooded the Indian television with sexually enticing-bordering on vulgarity styled Music Videos. And if at all the Indian audience was still reclusive to the notion of semi-naked women dancing on their TV sets,  the onset of popular figures such as Bipasha in Beedi Jalai Le and Aishwarya in Kajra Re, firmly eradicated from the Indian minds any doubts about the inappropriateness of such songs. Which is why, today rather than hiding embarrassed faces from one's elders, the gen-Y finds themselves singing along such songs, when not dancing to them. Which brings me to the crux of my topic. Is this change in the current generation a sign of sexual freedom or a sign of forgotten values? It is a topic that can be well debated. 

With the advent of songs such as Sheela ki jaawani and Munni badnaam hui, I feel that India is finally coming to accept that man 'is' a sexual creature, and that young, sexually potent females do not need to be shamefully hidden behind locked doors. That she too is free to exhibit her freedom; and that she's no more afraid of not just acknowledging her desires but also of voicing them. She is now not only free to choose but also, holding the power to choose. With this I feel it would be safe to say that the Indian women have finally come of age (thankfully only metaphorically). And while all this may be a good thing, as is to every debate there also happens to be a downside of the same.

I well remember what got me started thinking about this issue. It was when a friend of mine with such enthusiasm narrated to me a dance event he had just attended. At the event, a choreography team from some college had danced to the tune of Munni Badnaam hui, and his reaction to the same was to put it subtly, of complete and utter delight. His eyes full of wonderment, his smile of lustful amaze, he narrated to me how the crowd went wild and I mean WILD when the speakers blared this song. To the normal eye, this would seem nothing out of place, after all isn't this the whole purpose of dance performances, to make the crowd go wild, but that in itself is another issue. Why would one ever want to make the crowd go wild; knowing fully well that this wildness is full of lust and this lust the creator of an evil mind and the evil mind the initiator of evil acts. Isn't this why, it is advocated in our value system not to propagate such actions. Don't get me wrong, when I say this, I do not mean to imply that all evil acts are therefore the consequences of female action, neither do I suggest that the female restrict their right to self-expression. Heck no! I completely believe that one is responsible for one's actions, irrespective of the situation. If the Y-chromosomed can not practice self control then it does not imply that the female are at fault. However, if its not ignorance then it's sheer stupidity to expect no reaction to a provocation. You can not expect the tiger not to eat if the deer comes to sleep in his kitchen. Point being, the men need to learn self-control while the women need to learn self-protection. Clearly provocation is not an example of self-protection.

The debate is endless, the counter-points many. I myself subscribe to none, and only wonder with complete unbiased inquisitiveness that how, in a country where women are still expected to hide behind a veil and are ordained to cover their hair with cloth before elders (an act which unbeknown to most, is conducted as hair was considered as a sexually attractive bodily object by our forefathers), who would have thought that women shall once roam around gushing her own sex appeal.