IT’S CUSS-TOMARY!

[1]

DK Bose has changed the way we frown. The arrival of the song is very telling of the times we live in and the controversy surrounding it as well as the justifications for the language used are clear examples of just how tolerant we have become with cuss words in daily speech. Indians are not new to cuss words; as a multi-linguistic lot,

regional language swear words creep into our daily communication, if not for English profanities. But we’ve come a long way in our vulgarity threshold since the 90s controversy surrounding Alisha Chinai’s Sexy, Sexy song from Khuddar. Considered offensive in its time, the word “sexy” had to be changed to “baby”. Today the Censor Board passes a song without batting an eyelid because not only are mainstream movies not hesitating to apply for an A certification, but they believe that art is merely imitating life.

REEL LIFE APES REAL LIFE
When Seema Biswas openly used cuss words in the 1994 film Bandit Queen, every Indian and his neighbour was stunned. Today it is commonplace to find in Hindi movies, actors mouthing foul language to suit the character they play on screen. And this isn’t limited to Vidya Balan’s rustic belle in Ishqiya. Even Priyanka Chopra’s urban character in Fashion said the F word multiple times and Rani Mukherji played the city-bred opinionated journalist in No One Killed Jessica, whose language is peppered with expletives. Says Rani, “I was comfortable to the extent that I was portraying a news reporter, who is fearless and dynamic. I think a lot of people use such words these days. I don’t mind watching such films or using such words as an actor but I would not want my niece to watch me using them on screen.”
Sudhir Mishra’s Yeh Saali Zindagi raised eyebrows over the language used in the film earlier this year. Lead actor of the film Irrfan Khan said that such language is used keeping in mind how people in that region actually speak. “It’s the same way urban people use words like f**k and s**t in their everyday life. Why should we suddenly become purists when it comes to cinema?”
Even songs have gotten more brazen. Move over Sarkailo Khatiya and Choli Ke Peechey. Suggestive as the songs were with raunchy videos to boot, New Age lyricists too are resorting to cuss words to keep up with the times. The recent success of Karma is a Bitch and DK Bose is testimony to that. Indian rock band Parikrama founder member Subir Malik feels, “Cinema itself has become so much bold now. Look at Shaitaan, Raagini MMS or any Vishal Bhardwaj film. Cuss words are something we use in everyday life, and if they are used in a fun manner in music as well, then there’s nothing wrong in it. Whether we like it or not, even a boy who is in the fifth standard is familiar with these words, so they will naturally catch up to such numbers.”

POPULARITY AND GREATER ACCEPTANCE
The beauty of language is that it is dynamic and all-inclusive. It is a good indicator of the times we live in and the Oxford Dictionary’s annual announcement of new words, even slang ones, shows how much the spoken word is finding public acceptance in the ultimate guideline to the written word.
“I think Suketu Mehta’s hugely famous Maximum City has this paragraph which brilliantly exemplifies our society and cuss words. And I quote from it: ‘I missed saying b****** to people who understood it. It does not mean ‘sister f*****. That is too literal, too crude. It is, rather, punctuation, or emphasis, as innocuous a word as ‘s***’ or ‘damn’. The different countries of India can be identified by the way each pronounces this word… Parsis use it all the time, grandmothers, five-year-olds, casually and without any discernible purpose except as filler: ‘Here, b*******, get me a glass of water’,” says Niharika Lal, an English language teacher. Lal feels you are true to the contemporary setting in any art form if you don’t judge it by sitting on a high horse.
Shaitan director Bejoy Nambiar feels constant exposure has a big role to play in a more liberal acceptance of cussing. “The level of acceptance has a lot to do with how the exposure to international cinema has increased over the years. The growth of film clubs and several other mediums in the last few years has given moviegoers access to uncensored versions of various international films.”
Sociologist Nandini Sardesai was a jury member on the panel that approved the DK Bose song. She justifies, “I think the society has evolved and gotten liberal. There is hardly any moral policing these days, which proves the fact that we are evolving as a society with an open-minded approach.”

MAINTAINING
THE BALANCE
Despite all the open-mindedness, the print and television media are still governed by rules of decency. It is not uncommon to read words like s***, c@#$ in print as a certain decorum is required in such wide-reaching media. Even the usage of the word “bitch” in the verb form (as in to bitch about someone) has become part of common speech. While even a “God d*** it!” is frowned upon in newspapers and television channels, it is not considered half as offensive as the F word anymore in the spoken language. So while everyone seems okay with DK Bose and Karma is a Bitch, newspapers and news channels continue to preserve what’s left of the language… letting you know what works and doesn’t in the public sphere.
Suzana Ghai, creative head, fiction programming, Star Plus, says, “We at Star are very, very conscious about the language we use — primarily because our shows are targeted at a family audience. With our post 11.30 pm shows however, we have pushed the language a bit, without going to an extreme that would alienate our audience. You can see this in shows like Maryada or Pratigya where characters are edgy in the way they speak. But we do keep in mind that most households are one TV households. We have strict directives from the information and broadcasting ministry — we can’t use words that are abusive, or that may be deemed abusive to certain communities or women. While the guidelines are broadly the same for both Hindi and English entertainment channels, the English ones do have a little bit more of an advantage.”
Despite the guidelines, often competition forces channels to get as edgy as possible. Vikram Srivastava, programming head at Radio Mirchi, says there are very strict guidelines for radio jockeys and they are monitored very carefully. “Even star jockeys are given a dressing down in case they go overboard. Most private FM stations play contemporary Hindi hits now, though we might exclude some song. But if the other stations begin to play and it becomes popular, then I run the risk of sounding, for the want of a better word, a ‘prude’.”
While the media has a big role to play in Indians slowly and gradually dropping the “prudish” tag, as a society we too have taken the initiative to let fewer such issues affect us. So is it really a case of art imitating life or is it the other way around?

With inputs from Ipsitaa Panigrahi and Rohini Nair