CAN WE CHANGE OUR LOOKS?

Yes, with nose jobs, breast implants and hair transplants too. With the introduction of the concept of reality television in India eight years ago, with shows like Hospital, Commando and more recently Indian Idol and Fame Gurukul, we could never have ever imagined that the trend would catch on in as big a way as it has. I recaIl one senior programming person, who is today an iconic figure in the media world, telling that reality would never work in India, as Indians had too much reality in their lives. Today, the biggest and most talked about shows across mainstream channels tend to be based on reality entertainment formats. And they’re starting to give soap operas a run for their money.

One of the most challenging projects in the reality space we’re now developing is a show based on the international format of Extreme Makeover. In this show, top surgeons and hospitals from across the country come together to help bring people who’ve been pushed to the fringes by serious physical problems, back into the mainstream.
The “makeover” is one of the classic tools we’ve used effectively on most of the reality-entertainment formats we’ve worked on in the past. In the context of present-day reality television, this is the process that transforms the popular, small-town boy or girl with a great voice into a youth icon. It’s not difficult to execute-new styling, a designer wardrobe, and new attitude.

But already, the simple “superficial” makeover is passé. Increasingly, young men and women are opting to go under the scalpel to change the way they look. Plastic surgery, which till recently was the exclusive domain of the big stars, corporate czars and the ultra-rich, is now well within the reach of the average middle class Indian. It’s fast becoming the mother of all cures for chronic insecurity. An insecurity that’s being fuelled to a large extent by media.

Glam magazines and celebrity television, with their excessive dependence on actors, socialites, mode and designers, have succeeded in creating an alternative world that millions young people now aspire to belong to. It’s a world that not only assumes you are rich, it’s also a world where what you wear isn’t as important as where or who you bought it from. A world where a well-dressed, under-nourished, under weight, 20-year-old female undergraduate is more likely to be successful, than a 35-year-old, slightly plump,
over-achieving mother of two. It’s a world that thrives on insecurity and big dreams and pushes those that want to be a part of it to the limit. In 30 years from today, technology would have re-defined those limits dramatically.

Nose jobs, breast implants, hair transplants and much more will be par for the course. Instead of exercise and a nutritious diet, a simple tummy tuck would become standard procedure to achieve that elusive flat stomach. With the same principle applicable to other parts of the anatomy, we will have millions of young people who look great, but are unhealthy and susceptible to disease.
Taking that chain of thought further, replacement of body parts by parts grown outside our bodies would probably be a reality. The quest for eternal youth and beauty will take on a completely new dimension.

As the balance of power shifts from the West to China and India in the East, the concept of beauty too will change.

Thirty years from now, the blonde, blue-eyed, fair-skinned ideal of today would possibly have shifted to a black-haired, dark-skinned, slit-eyed standard. The smart set in New York or Paris or London might be lining up to get the “Bollywood” or “Beijing” look.
http://www.bollywoodworld.com/
Scarily enough, the makeover process won’t be limited to adults.

With the pressure on our children to perform and excel at everything they do in a fiercely competitive world increasing day by day, it won’t be uncommon for them to be going under the scalpel in order to give them an advantage over their peers.

IDIOT BOX- HALL OF FAME

Switch on the TV & explore your chances to be famous. Each time I sit in front of the idiot box for my daily dose of entertainment, I find myself lost, baffled and wondering. Nope, I have not started watching the K soaps. Instead, I find myself caught in the web of channels creating or rather churning out celebrities each month, each week and sometimes even each episode.

Right from my help at home, my colleague and the aunt in neighbourhood to her five-year-old kid, all are busy signing autographs and talking endlessly about their feat. And here I am, munching on popcorns and flipping channels, figuring out their claim to fame. Is it because they were obese; had high BP and cholesterol levels? Or because they didn’t even know that “re” came before “sa” in the Sargam? Or nobody having briefed them on how to behave when in public? Or simply as they had enough money, time-and patience to SMS?

A few weeks back, we saw the grand finale of Biggest Loser Jeetaga. A rigorous exercise regime for 16 weeks on national television was required to teach the lesson of fitness to a bunch of obese adults. Today, the participants are fitter, richer and popular. At the same time, they have proved that they were ignorant of the health hazards till Suneil Shetty informed them. Also, they think shedding kilos on national TV is glam. Well, the winner who weighed close to 124.9 kg has lost 50.7 kg and gained Rs 50.7Iakh, after fighting against calories and competition.

Well, but we can’t really blame this handful for their greed for fame (or fitness). For, a few months back, we saw long forgotten actors and models on Bigg Boss, acting, crying, sweeping, cleaning, dancing, fighting, massaging et al, all for their share of fame, that they had failed to achieve in years (or decades). Now, these guys became (in) famous and made money too. But then, they would have perhaps gained more respect, had they stayed hidden wherever they were, than making fools’ out of themselves in the Bigg Boss mansion.

Back to the ordinary man’s need for fame. Now, if there is practically nothing you are good at, worry not. Say if you have no clue of sur and Taal and you sing only to please your senses (which too, don’t really understand music), then you can sing on Filmy’s Bathroom Singers. Okie, now for the next one, all you need is a mobile, a lot of money to waste and the courage to sit through the drama of wailing women and revengeful men.
Vote for your favourite bhai, bhabhi, saas, devar… (ugh!) and get a chance to share the stage with the parivaar.

A lot many of your acquaintances will treat you as a star after you have brushed shoulders with our very own, Parvati bhabi, oh my God! Or how about just doing something eccentric (forget self respect) on the so called serious talent shows and get famous.
Well, this is not the end of the list for fresh choices pop out each day. And who told you it is only the talented and hardworking who have a right to popularity? So, go ahead acquire the status of a celeb.

Violence is very subtle most times; and its massive manifestation, dreaded. Even in this day when she is leading many packs of men a work, calling equal shots at home and generally enjoying liberation, there could still be some violence that leaves her a victim, a silent victim. Well, she has been taught not to speak, she better not, and doesn’t. It’ll bring her shame.

Men know, we can brush past way too close to pass off as ‘accidental’, smack her in the rear, tear her, maul her, she won’t say a word. If she speaks, she’s blamed for having fanned the fire (or the desire?), leaving her victimized the second time. In any case, does anybody care how she’s affected? But doesn’t beyond violence and silence, lie a woman’s self-respect? A very vulnerable space of her. But why won’t she talk? Why does she choose suffering over an outpouring of humiliation - on the streets, at work, at home?

Sometimes we speak up, most times, we just ignore. That’s how we’ve been brought up. We have been taught to not to speak against sexual violence, for that’ll be our insult. Rather than seeing us as victims, we are told to just shut up.

Incidents of sexual harassment of unmarried women mostly go unreported, often under society’s pressures. At work, if the boss tries to take advantage of you, you can’t prove it. After marriage, if the wife is not willing for a physical relationship but is forced, it is in any case sexual harassment.

There was this woman victim who spoke up after years of abuse. Her husband would come home drunk and force her into a sexual intercourse. To avoid him, she began sleeping with her three daughters. But the man came down to tearing her clothes in front of his daughters. Helpless, the woman would go to the other room with him.

A few women are coming forward for filing complaints. But then there are some who come, but don’t want to pursue the matter. They fear that people will say she was ‘inviting’.

“Women working as domestic help at homes often become easy target. A big landlord recently raped his domestic help and to shut her up, gave her a pair of bangles, only to later accuse her of theft. We are fighting the case. But it doesn’t stop at that. We have to fight the police too. And eve-teasing is so common. Youth are unemployed, and all the time they have goes into exploring vulgar films, nudity… and all this hollows out their value-system”, says Amteshwar Kaur, High court lawyer.

“The police don’t have the sensitivity to handle cases of sexual harassment, including eve-teasing. They ask for the details of the incident at least 25 times, enough to discourage anybody,” she says.

Law’s not enough: “As regards sexual violence at workplace, there is no law.
But in one case, Vishakha Vs State of Rajasthan, the Supreme Court gave some directions that are used as guidelines for preventing sexual harassment of working women.
Thus, to some extent, protection is available, but in many departments, the complaint committee hasn’t been formed”. She does not think the law is weak; it’s the patriarchal society’s ways that hinder justice.

Amteshwar feels “there’s a lot in the books, but it’s not practical. Unless the laws are stringent, the culprits will be easily bailed out. Some part of the society is resisting this, but more sensitisation is needed. Women need to come forward; we are ready to assist them”.

Women need to stand up for themselves. There are various people ready to help them, but they’ll have to break the ice. Women need to come forward as a collective force and fight,” she says. The message is written on the wall: Women must be encouraged to speak up against sexual violence, and express their own truths. Only then will things change.