How Bollywood Has Distorted Our Ideas of Sexuality and Body Image

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Since its inception in the 1930s, Bollywood has been the go-to place for entertainment for a large fraction of the Indians.

We all love Bollywood and most of us even dream of becoming a Bollywood actor or actress. Everything in our daily lives from the way we dress, speak, behave, the style we choose to the way we think has been impacted by the cinemas.

We even see little kids dancing to the songs such as Chikni Chameli from Agneepath and Sheila Ki Jawaani from Tees Maar Khan. This shows the intensity of the impact created by Bollywood on young Indians and our society.

Do these kids know the meaning of those songs?

The lyrics of some of these songs go from bad to worse. Have you ever realized that most Bollywood songs that you rocked to so happily as a child were disgustingly sexist?

How do these kinds of songs and movies influence millions of young and old minds, across urban and rural India?

Bollywood films have a great impact on one’s perception of sexuality and body image. Bollywood films are indeed sold on women for they focus on objectifying women, but these methods adopted to portray women are not only limited to the screen but have a social impact too.

Misogyny is not a new thing in Bollywood

Cinema has far-reaching consequences on the young minds of Indians and Bollywood’s portrayal of women has been stereotypical for way too long.

For a long time, Bollywood romances have solely been an expression of male desire with women having no say. They are portrayed as eye-candy and hyper-sexualized in most of the advertising posters to attract the audience and added to the fuel are the item songs where a female in revealing and modern clothes dances amid a pack of men.

It is very common in commercial films that female characters are objectified as mere sexual objects without intellectual capability, while men are portrayed as strong, professional, and intellectual, and heroic.

The depiction of misogyny in Bollywood is hardly a new problem and is deeply rooted in the industry. Kabir Singh, for instance, though criticized for the way it portrayed an abusive relationship as a form of love was one of the highest-grossing movies of 2019.

“An international study finds that women in Indian movies are made to emphasize their sex appeal but are unlikely to have professions.”

Women are usually portrayed as sexual objects in Indian films and are mostly used for supportive and decorative roles as is evident in Kabir Singh and most Indian films.

Are Bollywood makers fully aware of glorifying and promoting misogyny in relationships?

These movies have made some people fear that it would inspire or even drive people to unacceptable behavior and may promote the dangerous idea that sexual harassment is acceptable. The success of this kind of movie which glorifies misogyny shows that there is still a long way to go to bring a change in the perception of sexuality among young Indians.

Showcase of Body Image

Movies have always been a very effective means of communication and the impression of sexuality and body image as shown in Bollywood films tend to implant wrong ideas in their minds and mislead them.

The female actor is shown beautiful and attractive with a light skin tone and a perfect body which makes the hero get attracted towards her. This portrayal of the women in Bollywood films has led many young girls to achieve the unrealistic beauty standards of the female actors going through the painful process of waxing and other beauty care with the desire to look attractive in the eyes of their partner.

Not only women but men too are the victims of these notions. Bollywood hero is objectified as a tall person with a chiseling physique and without body hair and fat. Most of the men are under hidden pressure to feel good about their bodies and attract their partners.

Most of the youth have forgotten to embrace their bodies. Not everyone’s body type is the same nor has the same skin tone all over their body. It is important to remember that it is their professional necessity that makes the actors take special care to maintain even skin tone and look beautiful to attract the audience.

While some filmmakers are trying to change the depiction of sexuality in Indian films, yet there is much to be done to have empathy and sensibility towards real women and the problems they face.

Bollywood’s idea of sexuality has far-reaching consequences on India’s social fabric. The actors need to realize that overemphasis of sexual scenes can have a huge impact on the young girls and boys and should have the courage to turn down the characters that objectify women with negative body image.

It’s time for all of us to take the responsibility to inculcate realistic cultural values among the young minds so that at least the next generation would know the reality and show respect towards others as well as themselves.

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While celebrity and stardom may look all glitzy and glamorous to the outside world, little do we realise that even celebs and famous personalities are after all vulnerable humans like us and are fighting their own battles. While some fall sick and quickly recover, many illnesses are fatal, chronic, and invisible with pain being one of the long term issues that can hinder every minute of your existence. While looking beautiful and happy on the outside, here are 10 lady celebs who have not had it easy and have battled with chronic pain disorders in their life.

Padma Lakshmi

Endometriosis

The Emmy-nominated host of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, Padma Lakshmi, now 48, suffers from endometriosis. Padma told in an interview to a magazine in April 2009 that she found out in a very hard, difficult way–and had to be operated on. In endometriosis, during each menstrual cycle, tissue builds up, breaks down, and bleeds, leading to very painful menstrual cramps, chronic lower back and pelvic pain, painful sex, bleeding, diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and nausea. What started as cramps at age 13 for her, got worse over time. For more than two decades, Lakshmi had struggled to manage the chronic pain that arrived with her periods. She is now an advocate on women’s health and works to destigmatize the topic of menstruation.

Sonali Bendre

Metastatic Cancer

Sonali Bendre was been diagnosed with metastatic cancer also known as high-grade cancer where cancer cells spread to the rest of the body through the circulatory or lymphatic system. Sonali Bendre revealed that she was suffering from continuous pain in her body which led to her getting tested in the first place, and that was how she found out about the disease.

”As women we are thought to bear the pain as a part of our life and so we don’t take our aches and pains seriously and that is what made me delay my diagnosis,” she said in a TV interview. She underwent treatment in New York.

Selena Gomez

Lupus

28 years old Selena Marie Gomez the singer, songwriter, actress, and producer from Texas, USA said in 2015 that she suffers from lupus, an inflammatory disease that causes the immune system to attack its own tissues. Apart from skin rashes, lupus is known to cause achy joints (arthralgia), swollen joints (arthritis), constant or severe fatigue, ankle swelling. Lupus harmed her kidneys, and she underwent a kidney transplant in 2017.

Lady Gaga

Fibromyalgia

Stephanie Germanotta is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, and businesswoman. Two years back, Gaga revealed her struggle with fibromyalgia, a condition that affects the nervous system and causes widespread pain throughout the body.

She also came up with a documentary about it. “In our documentary the #chronicillness #chronicpain I deal with is #Fibromyalgia,” she tweeted in September 2017. “I wish to help raise awareness & connect people who have it.” Fibromyalgia causes widespread muscle pain, along with fatigue and issues with sleep and memory.

“I get so irritated with people who don’t believe fibromyalgia is real,” the singer said in an interview to the media. “For me, and I think for many others, it’s really a cyclone of anxiety, depression, PTSD, trauma, and panic disorder, all of which sends the nervous system into overdrive, and then you have nerve pain as a result.”

Gigi Hadid

Hashimoto’s disease

International model Gigi Hadid or Jelena Noura (also the wife of Zayn Malik of One Direction band fame) suffers from Hashimoto’s disease is an autoimmune disorder in which your immune system creates antibodies that damage your thyroid gland and what causes the immune system to attack the thyroid gland is still unknown. Muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness, joint pain and stiffness, and muscle weakness are common symptoms among other issues.

“For those of you so determined to come up [with] why my body has changed over the years, you may not know that when I started [at] 17 I was not yet diagnosed [with] Hashimoto’s disease,” she tweeted in February 2018. “Those of [you] who called me ‘too big for the industry’ were seeing inflammation & water retention due to that.”

Venus Williams

Sjogren’s syndrome

The former world No. 1 tennis Player Venus was diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an auto-immune disease whose symptoms include joint pain and fatigue. Williams has struggled since her diagnosis, pulling out of the 2011 US Open after being overwhelmed with fatigue. In Srojen’s syndrome, the body’s immune system attacks its own healthy cells that produce saliva and tears. Sjögren’s syndrome often occurs with other such disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. Muscle or joint pain, swelling between the jaw and ears (swollen salivary glands), and some other symptoms of this disease.

“The fatigue is hard to explain unless you have it,” she told in a media interview The New York Times in 2011 of her struggle with Sjogren’s syndrome. “Some mornings I feel really sick, like when you don’t get a lot of sleep or you have the flu or cold. I always have some level of tiredness. And the more I tried to push through it, the tougher it got.”

Swara Bhaskar

Slipped disc

A couple of years back, actress Swara Bhasker revealed in an Instagram story that she had to be on bed rest for 10 days because of a slipped disk problem. Not taking adequate rest, there are chances that she might need 8 weeks of bed rest after 2 weeks. This condition occurs when the soft centre of a spinal disc pushes through a crack in the tougher exterior casing of a vertebra. Though Some herniated discs cause no symptoms, Others can irritate nearby nerves and result in pain, numbness or weakness in an arm or leg. Not every disc needs intervention but some may need to be treated with medication, physiotherapy and possibly surgery.

Sneha Ullal

Autoimmune disorder

Cast against Salman Khan in ‘Lucky — No Time For Love’ (2005), she was called Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s look alike. But she disappeared from the industry as she was diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder.

“It’s a blood-related illness where my own immune system kept me unwell”, she said. “My body would become so weak that I would not be able to stand on my feet for more than 30 to 40 minutes and because I kept shooting for films even with this illness, it got worse. Beyond a point, I didn’t have the strength to do what an actress is expected to do — running around, dancing and continuous shooting etc. That’s when I had to stop and start my medication, because there was no point in doing films and then falling sick every other day.

Lisa Ray
Cancer (Multiple Myeloma)

The famous actor and model, Lisa Ray was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2009, a rare cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow. Lisa announced she was cancer-free in 2010 but not completely cured as disease is treatable but incurable. Bone pain, Bone weakness, Broken bones (fractures) are some symptoms of this disease amongst many others.

Samantha
Polymorphous Light Eruption

Samantha, the popular actress down south, suffers from called PLE or Polymorphous Light Eruption in 2012. This is a skin condition called by sunlight wherein the person starts feeling very itchy and it leads to a lot of pain. This usually happens to those having fair skins. Symptoms of polymorphic light eruption. An itchy or burning rash appears within hours or up to 2 to 3 days after exposure to sunlight and lasts for 2 weeks. The rash usually appears on the parts of the skin exposed to sunlight, typically the head, neck, chest,and arms but disappears without leaving a scar.