Accept it or ignore it, exposing is a part of show business. Had it not been the case, many actresses would not have tasted success. The latest to join the bandwagon full of bold actresses is Poonam Pandey, who is making her Bollywood debut with Nasha. And going by the teasers of the film, Poonam is ready to shock people with her skin show. Surprisingly, she has already found support from people who feel that if you have a beautiful body, flaunt it.
Director Mukesh Bhatt came up in defence of exposing when he recently said, “There is nothing wrong in exposing and showing off. If you have a beautiful body and show it, there is nothing wrong with it. Who are we to take any moral stand on that.”
You can’t take a stand against something that is a part of world cinema, says director Abhinay Deo. “Exposing is acceptable in Bollywood as there is no thumb rule which says it is wrong. It all depends on individuals whether they see it as a part of the film or in some other sense. Look at James Bond movies, there is some amount of exposing in all of them, yet people world over watch them. Everything done in the right manner and pitched correctly is acceptable,” he says.
Adman Prahlad Kakar feels if it (exposing) is the demand of the script, it should be well accepted. “If the story demands it, there is nothing wrong in skin show. After all, it is a grown up’s fantasy to be seduced by a woman dressed in skimpy clothes, and many people go to watch certain kind of films for this. We are living in an age of item numbers which commodify women as it is. If we can watch and enjoy those item numbers than what is wrong in watching movies that have women exposing,” he questions.
Actress Veena Malik, who surprised many with her skin show in the recently released Ziindagi 50-50, says she was just portraying her character with honesty. “Being an actor, I would say that it is difficult to show skin on the screen, but that is a part of our job. We do it because the script demands it and it is necessary to play a character convincingly. Not only us, even actresses in Yashraj films wear bikini. When you can show reality in terms of bloodshed, gun and gangs, then what is what is the harm in showing a pretty girl exposing,” she asks.
Director Madhureeta Anand adds that women who survive on exposing have a short lifespan and people should just let them be. “Everything should be accepted. We should understand that girls go naked to be in the limelight, and they have very short life window if they do not have the talent. So let them make hay till the sun shines and then each to their own,” she says.
Abhinay adds that he is strongly against moral policing. “Why are Indians trying to take moral stands on women exposing in films when we ourselves come from the land of Kama Sutra. You can’t make a blanket statement when half of you are watching these scenes. We have filmmakers who make C and D category movies that are nothing but porn. They do not run in multiplexes but are shown in multiple single screens across the country and number of people go and watch them. It’s time we make peace with it and stop judging everything and understand that content is the leader at the end of the day. No matter how many women expose for a film, but if the story is not good, nobody will watch it. So let’s not kill ourselves over something we won’t remember,” he concludes.