Bigot Brother?

We reported earlier on Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty’s venture into the Celebrity Big Brother house in the UK. We thought things were going smoothly for her when reader Jai informed us that Shilpa was part of a reshuffle in the house where

“8 housemates voluntarily transferred into an adjoining, and significantly dodgier, “servants’ quarters”, with the intention that the 3 remaining celebrities would be treated like royalty by them. It appears that they all selected the lucky 3 on the basis of them having the highest status in the real world — Shilpa was one of them, along with Jermaine Jackson and a famous director called Ken Russell. So that’s an interesting indication of how they view her.”

Jai signed on again, despite starting a new job (congrats jai!), to let us know how things were progressing for Shilpa and the gang. It seemed she had bonded with the other major stars on the show, especially Jermaine Jackson and Dirk Benedict (Face from the A-team) who was crushing hard core on the Bollywood star. At the same time it seems, Shilpa was also the victim of a lot of bullying and even some acts of racism from some of the housemates (especially the ladies). Over the past few days, fellow participants have called Shilpa “dog, “”The Indian,” and have even mocked her accent. One of the Bullyers according to the Daily Mirror is previous Big Brother winner Jade Goody. Goody, who supports Act Against Bullying, an anti-bullying charity, was swiftly given the boot by the the charity because of her actions. Act Againts Bullyying called Goody’s behaviour “unforgivable”.

Jade’s mother Jackey too got in on the anti-Shilpa act. According to Caroline Malone, who was recently evicted, “Jade’s mum Jackiey hated Shilpa and constantly referred to her as “The Indian” which I found horribly insulting. Jackiey made life purposely difficult for Shilpa – shouting at her for no reason, criticising her cooking, attacking her for being bossy.” (link)

Hey, you don’t like someone? Call them names, use their race, ethnic origin, or anything that makes them different and mock that as well. Have your mom call them names, and have your boyfriend call them names too. That solves everything. It turns out Jade’s boyfriend Jack Tweed— who is also currently in the house, and was alleged to have called Shetty a “paki” when Jade’s mother was evicted last week; Channel 4, the channel on which Big Brother airs, has confirmed that Tweed didn’t call Shetty a Paki, but instead the clearly more civilized, “cunt.” Last night Shetty was in tears and is quoted as saying: “I’m the only one they are mean to, I don’t know why. Nobody is mean to anyone else except me.” (link)

The Hindustan Times reports that many viewers think Shilpa is being targeted out of jealousy. I was quite surprised to hear that Shilpa was being paid more than everyone else $680,000, against the standard fee of $610,000. She has also been more popular in the media than other participants, mostly B- and C-list celebs (link). Even though I am a fan of the reality tv genre, I am constantly amazed at how foolish and idiotic adults can act on these shows. Things have gotten so bad in the house for Shilpa that the BBC has reported that British Media watchdog Ofcom and Channel 4 have received almost 10,000 complaints about the racist behavior and bullying thus far. Showing solidairty with his Asian sister and his many British Asian constituents, Leicester East MP Keith Vaz even tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons against the alleged racist behaviour on Big Brother. The motion reads: “…This House views with concern comments made about… Shilpa Shetty by other housemates; believes that Big Brother has a role… in preventing racist behaviour…; regrets that these comments have been made, and calls on the programme to take… action to remind housemates that racist behaviour is unacceptable.” While Ofcom has indicated that it is looking into each complaint of racist behavior on the show, no matter how much investigation they do, it won’t change the resentment/negative feelings that seems to exist in some segments of British society. You can’t investigate that away.

275 thoughts on “Bigot Brother?

  1. Maybe this will make the Bollywood types realise that no matter how westernised they get and no matter how expert at English they become, they’re still Indian. Although Shilpa is better than most in terms of maintaining some Indian culture and representing. My comments are aimed more at the likes of Abhishek, Preiti Zinta, Saif Ali Khan, etc.

  2. Much respect to Shilpa for dealing with these fools in a classy manner.

    Maybe this will make Bollywood types realise that no matter how westernised they get and no matter how expert at English they become, they’re still Indian

    How does their speaking fluent english make them less Indian?

  3. wha? is that photo doctored?

    the guy on the left looks like a filmi actor from yesteryear. I’m sure you all know him. can’t think of the name.

  4. amitabh,

    Maybe this will make the Bollywood types realise that no matter how westernised they get and no matter how expert at English they become, they’re still Indian.

    you’re kind of repeating,

    …Shilpa was also the victim of a lot of bullying and even some acts of racism from some of the housemates (especially the ladies). Over the past few days, fellow participants have called Shilpa “dog, “”The Indian,” and have even mocked her accent.
  5. A lot of the population is racist even when it is agreed that racism is bad.

    A few years ago, racism was an opinion—a “scientific” and definitely widely accepted opinion at that. Makes me wonder abt all that desis had to endure before independence. And what they, along with many other ethnicities have to endure in most of the middle east. And a significant part of continental europe which doesn’t even measure up anywhere near UK or the US in fairness.

  6. How does their speaking fluent english make them less Indian?

    shireen, amitabh means that howsoever westernized/ like a typical westernized person you become (be it from Bollywood or otherwise), there is a divide that shows up in free-for-all reality show where the bitchiness is almost directed toward her ethnicity/ nationality.

    indian cricket players have gone through this many times.

    a lot of bollywood actors (or more so others) too really wanted to show in their behavior that they might as well be from UK/ USA. i think shilpa shetty is different from what i have read.

  7. wha? is that photo doctored?

    No, the guy on the left is Dirk (face from the A-Team), Jermaine Jackson in the middle, and Shilpa on the right.

    Maybe this will make the Bollywood types realise that no matter how westernised they get and no matter how expert at English they become, they’re still Indian. Although Shilpa is better than most in terms of maintaining some Indian culture and representing. My comments are aimed more at the likes of Abhishek, Preiti Zinta, Saif Ali Khan, etc.

    Amitabh: I don’t even know what to say to you…I can’t really follow your comment.

  8. i think a lot of it is plain jealousy. she is the only A-lister there except the former Ms. UK (who may become A-lister one day).

    others are just washed out

  9. a lot of bollywood actors (or more so others) too really wanted to show in their behavior that they might as well be from UK/ USA.

    I really do not follow this. I mean, their accents, etc, seem pretty authentic Indian to me most of the time. Abhishek and Saif both have extremely privileged backgrounds, and that shows (ok, not so much on Abhishek 😀 ) but I never got the feeling they are more American than Indian.

  10. Abhishek and Saif both have extremely privileged backgrounds, and that shows

    that is true. i am sorry for contributing to the distraction.

    back to main topic, i do not think shilpa deserves it.

  11. that is true. i am sorry for contributing to the distraction. back to main topic, i do not think shilpa deserves it.

    Yes, true. But at the same time I am extremely uncomfortable with making it a lesson of any sort to Indians (as Amitabh does in #1).

  12. bytewords @ #6 said:

    A lot of the population is racist even when it is agreed that racism is bad.

    I’ve been following this show. I don’t think in this particular it is racism. The problem is they put Shilpa Shetty in with a bunch of Phony, Ignorant, Talentless, Morons who had delusions of being famous and probably imagined a nation flocking to the television to admire them(the ex-Miss England in particular). But Shilpa came in and they were relegated to servitude by a clever Big Brother and had to face reality: That without their PR mechanism and Tabloid promotion they are just silly girls with nothing to say, no knowledge and noone to care.

    Three of the male celebrities left the building as if escaping their deaths and the tabloid dolls were left with a gay man and two older men to flirt with. These men, oblivious to the charms before them, turned to Shilpa for conversation, support and even flirtation(Shame on you Dirk Benedict ;). The beauties then turned into vicious tramps and started attaching any weakness shilpa had. These include cooking skills, facial hair, accent and niceness(class). Since a lot of this has to do with Shilpa’s Indianness, it comes off as racist. In their jealous rage, “the three witches” as they are refered to in most of England now, don’t realise their hippocracy and cruelty. When they come out, they will be in shock as to how they are perceived.

    I’m interested in this because of the way Shilpa has been handling herself so far. I cant’ wait till the breaking point (there always is) and she finds a backbone. It will be ugly and great television.

  13. when the lights went out in 2003 people talked, said hello, shared a cookie with their neighbor. even my withered self had a love who waited – parched and worried
    by the fountain out in the street. Good memories they of times past. Almost as good is the memory
    that the tube was shut and people talked about you and me and their lives and did not need to sit drooling and asinine in front of the fucking tube. buddah sez dont be a kook. read a book.

  14. Kush @ #9

    Totally agree with you but a lot of people seem to disagree. Are Indians in UK more prone to complain about racism?

  15. rasudha,

    via your link on the news tab, i saw couple of segments of big brother on youtube.

    that is for sure those girls do not like shilpa at all, and she is fighting back.

    they are jealous but they (those girls) are definitely using ethnicity card, like eating with fingers, etc.

  16. Yes, true. But at the same time I am extremely uncomfortable with making it a lesson of any sort to Indians (as Amitabh does in #1).

    Sorry. Maybe that was inappropriate. But I’m kinda bitter at many in Bollywood…they earn their bread and butter (as well as the adoration of millions upon millions of fans) through Hindi cinema, and indirectly Indian culture (to the extent that Bollywood reflects or relies on Indian culture), but many of them have a disdain and a snobby disregard for that very culture and language. It’s a joke on the fans which the fans don’t even realise. Saif Ali Khan for example IS very American in terms of his real life personality and tastes. These actors are more in tune with a sort of extremely elite, English-speaking, westernised, ‘South Bombay’ worldview than with anything Indian. Their damn award shows for their Hindi movies ARE IN ENGLISH for crying out loud! How many actors in the ‘Hindi’ film industry do you think could conduct an off the cuff, unscripted, unrehearsed interview in Hindi (I’m not saying shuddh Hindi, just regular, colloquial Hindi)? Hrithik Roshan had to take Hindi classes with a tutor when he launched his acting career. Even Abhishek, son of an excellent Hindi speaker, and grandson of a HINDI POET, had to undergo intensive Hindi training when he decided to become an actor. Same thing with Vinod Khanna’s kids. Have you ever seen Preiti Zinta talking in Hindi outside of a film (like in an interview or award show)? Word is that Kajol doesn’t even really know how to speak it, and Ajay Devgan, although fluent, never speaks it offscreen. The only actors who are actually fluent in it are either older generation, or Muslim (like all the Khans for example) or did not grow up in Mumbai. My point is that these actors work in a certain industry, which exists through the medium of Hindi and Indian cultural references, and has given them everything in life, but most simply milk it for all it’s worth in terms of fortune and fame, yet have no real appreciation or committment or emotional attachment to the language and culture which makes their lifestyles possible. In fact some have contempt for it. Yet their fans eat it all up. (I’m not including south Indian actors in this analysis by the way).

    But I agree that Shilpa shouldn’t have been treated like that, the British racism is disgusting, and anyway like I said I think she’s one of the better ones, seems to be a more down to Earth person.

  17. Kush @ #18

    But what do you do if you want to attack someone in a jealous fit and they dont give you more material to work with. They ran thru everything from Shilpa’s laugh to her facial hair to her cooking methods. They had a lot of time on their hands and resorted to attacking her country and countrymen. Does it mean racism as in they believe their race is superior. If anything they have a complex about themselves especially since Shilpa had a hard time understanding some of their pronounciation. And it is obvious Shilpa is better spoken than them.

    The Bleach Incident

    Things Turn Ugly

  18. Amitabh (#19):

    I agree with your sentiment. Though the problem is certainly not restricted to Bollywood. Most of the popular Indian writers, e.g. (Vikram Seth, Khushwant Singh, Salman Rushdie, Anita/Kiran Desai), come from privileged backgrounds, and not one of them can write convincingly of the common Indian experience.

    More to the point, I am slightly surprised at Shilpa Shetty being described as an A-list celebrity. I can’t even think of a single major Bollywood movie she was in. If she is described as A-list, the other people on Big Brother must be total wash-outs.

  19. :Yet their fans eat it all up. I wouldn’t call myself a fan of movie actors but i do watch their movies sometime. Growing up in semi-rural North India I always cringed at it but what other options did i have? Sure i couldnt develop any respect for these guys(I didnt understand them anyway) but i couldnt really affect their bottom lines. And also why blame movie actors alone, English is considered the language of educated/cool people by most. Knowledge of English is directly related to IQ in India.

  20. I’ve been following this show. I don’t think in this particular it is racism. The problem is they put Shilpa Shetty in with a bunch of Phony, Ignorant, Talentless, Morons who had delusions of being famous and probably imagined a nation flocking to the television to admire them(the ex-Miss England in particular).

    Oh Rasudha, let’s call a spade a spade! Calling Shilpa a “Paki,” “the Indian” and mocking her accent is pretty racist to me. They may have been jealous or envious or whatever…and they used racist means to convey that! Just sayin’.

  21. More to the point, I am slightly surprised at Shilpa Shetty being described as an A-list celebrity.

    Her only hit is Phir Milenge. However, as a pinup girl, and as a spokeperson, she is very visible and marketable. She represents a lot of causes, and brands in India.

    She is a A-list celebrity, not a A-list actress. You are mixing two different lists.

    Being on Big Brother was to jump start her film career, and I guess on that sense, her handlers mis-guessed the whole thing.

  22. Ansur @23

    If you’d look at my comment @20, I feel there is a difference between ugly behavior, bullying or whatever and “racism”. She wasn’t called a ‘paki’, according to Big Brother. That is false reporting. Each person in there has different insecurities but none of them, I believe, think they are a superior race. Asian Brits seem to find racism everywhere.

  23. She is a A-list celebrity, not a A-list actress. You are mixing two different lists.

    Yeah, I guess. wikipedia has a lot of interesting info about her btw, such as, her native tongue is Tulu, and alleged contacts with the mafia (that explains why she has been so reasonable 😉 ) .

  24. Why is Abhi anti-Shilpa? He wants only Aishwariya posts?

    More to the point, I am slightly surprised at Shilpa Shetty being described as an A-list celebrity.

    She has some hit movies in the south, in Tamil and Telugu. Dunno about kannada.

  25. Kush,

    Her only hit is Phir Milenge

    Baazigar was a monster hit. Dus, Darna Mana Hai, were successes. Her item song in the arthouse film Shool was huge.

    I agree with your other points on the attitudes of some of the mainstream Hindi cinema actors.

  26. If you’d look at my comment @20, I feel there is a difference between ugly behavior, bullying or whatever and “racism”. She wasn’t called a ‘paki’, according to Big Brother. That is false reporting. Each person in there has different insecurities but none of them, I believe, think they are a superior race.

    Rasudha, I’ll agree that the other Big Brother contestants most likely don’t believe in the coming of the Fourth Reich or donate their spare change to crazy eugenics programs. But why did they feel the need to bring up her ethnicity? Were they racialist but not racist? I dunno. I’m pretty convinced Shilpa wasn’t called “The Indian” because she was a random unidentified straggler who just happened to be in the camera’s way. Judging from the statements of other contestants as well as the viewers’ opinions, I think it’s pretty clear some of the contestants were using Shilpa’s ethnicty to degrade her (which, even in the ‘anything goes’ culture of reality TV is still a pretty low blow).

    But, it seems that we have different thresholds for categorizing things as racist.

    Asian Brits seem to find racism everywhere.

    Maybe if the other contestants didn’t feel the need to bring up her race in the first place, Asian Brits wouldn’t have much to complaint about?

  27. Amitabh,

    Abhishek Bacchhan might have had to go through training for Hindi language (am not too sure of that)-but the gy sure is really comfortable with the language-hear him talk in UP style Hindi in Bunty and Babli (especially when he says “Abey Jajjan”)-you can’t fault the guy with his diction. Same for Saif Ali Khan, the guy has a distinct “lehza’ and “tehzeeb” in his voice and does even the rustic accents pretty well-care to watch Omkara. These guys know their Hindi rather well.Eeven Preity Zinta speaks decent Hindi. Most actors take coaching for Urdu diction.

    Sakshi (comment 10 and 21)-i agree :). And about Shilpa Shetty, she may not have gotten too many A list movies-but she’s quite a popular celebrity and looks gorgeous :).

    Kush, she surely doesn’t need a Big Brother to boost her acting career in India-her song and dance numbers are enough to make her popular with quite an audience and the classes were pleased too with her appearance in Phir Milenge.

  28. her song and dance numbers are enough to make her popular with quite an audience and the classes were pleased too with her appearance in Phir Milenge.

    What, the classes don’t like the ‘item’ numbers? 😉

  29. Poor, poor Shilpa. Amitabh (19) most of the actors do have to take intensive Hindi lessons (musical, 31) to develop the standardized Bollywood accent (which is further changed according to character roles, etc)which is different from how normal people speak.

  30. Pfff. Live by the reality show, die by the reality show. Meanwhile, from the Dept. of Accidental Postmodern Irony, this statement from the television channel that runs the show, as quoted by the BBC:

    “Big Brother does not tolerate bullying or racist abuse in any form. Big Brother is closely monitoring all the housemates and will take appropriate measures to reprimand such behaviour where necessary,” a spokesman said.
  31. Dry your tears sweetie. Now lets go out to the yard and see if we can’t find you a big stick.

  32. Just kidding about the big stick of course. However-I have stopped being shocked by the behavior of adults. That’s where kids learn it. Most bullying has a racial,ethnic or sexual slant and it’s being studied seriously by psychologists,teachers and administrators alike. My personal contention is that anyone who’s different and without a posse gets bullied. It’s some of the same psychology behind that hideous mob behavior at the PR day parade and at New Years that Siddhartha posted on a few weeks ago.

    …Dept. of Accidental Postmodern Irony…I am loving this phrase.

  33. She is definitely beautiful – probably one of the most amazing bodies when it comes to Bollywood actresses, especially considering she’s 30+ and not too many actresses hold on to their bodies at that age =) But I haven’t been too fond of her since I met her back in .. um .. 1995. She was extremely rude – hell, she made Salman Khan look like an angel when I met him minutes later =) But I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt here – need to watch some of those youtube clips.

  34. I apologise for the behaviour of my fellow Brits! It’s not so much the alleged racism as the generally slobbery, narrow-mindedness and ignorance of the other contestants in the house that makes me cringe. Shilpa may be high-maintenance and somewhat cocky, but at least she’s actually does something (act, dance) – rather than people like uber-slob Jade Goody who just talks about her fake boobs and gives interviews to C-list magazines.

    I dread to think of the impressions that Indians are getting of the UK as result of this show….

  35. Not much we can do now. We should have worked aggressively on decoupling ourselves from violent eastern/middle-eastern ideologies in the white consciousness long ago. Any consolidated efforts to represent the Indian immigrant populations as a class of hard working, open minded people who have contributed much to the host society came too little, too late. Its hardly a British phenomenon, the English spin bowler and the South African batsman have been subjected to stereotyping in the ‘Paki’ image in the world of cricket by what were seemingly normal, reasonable commentators. It only shows how the impressionable amongst the Whites have identified us with the ‘other’, and they think subjecting us to humiliation is their right of self-preservation in societies under siege by a violent pan-religious ideology that seeks to destroy or get destroyed. Thanks of course to the Pakistani communities and to our PC fear of self-promotion on national, religious lines

  36. germaine greer was in the guardian today saying the word paki was just like saying aussie. stupid woman. the guardian deserve a fucking beating for that.

  37. These actors are more in tune with a sort of extremely elite, English-speaking, westernised, ‘South Bombay’ worldview than with anything Indian.

    All these digs on Bollywood for being westernized are annoying. Why is speaking English considered Westernized? It’s my first language, and I grew up in India. And I’m South Indian, so don’t try to tell me that Hindi (which I happen to speak quite coherently) is my language. English has been spoken in India for over 200 years and it’s as Indian a language as it is American. I know many Indians who are NOT members of the “elite” who speak predominantly English, and speak it better than any other Indian language. Granted, they live in urban areas, but who says beign urban isn’t Indian? Neither side of my family has a “village”–as far back as we know, we’ve always been urban Indians. Since there have been cities in India for thousands of years, I don’t know why everyone assumes that city culture isn’t authentically Indian, and many urban Indians have been speaking English for generations. There is not a single living person in my family that can’t speak English, and not all of us are highly educated or even live a Westernized lifestyle. I don’t understand why people don’t think English is an Indian language.

    Regarding Bollywood actors in particular, they seem quite Indian to me. So what if they can’t speak Hindi in person? They speak it decently on screen, and the “average Indian” who they are apparently not representing does love them. And regarding those elite writers, so what if they aren’t writing about the experiences of the Indian masses? They are writing about an India that is quite real to them, and to many other people. And anyway, writers like Rohinton Mistry and Anita Desai write about the urban and rural poor respectively, and they do it with a familiarity of the subject. I can’t vouch for their accuracy. It annoys me when people go on about things being or not being “authentically Indian”. If they are happening in India, well, then they are Indian, whether you like it or not.

  38. I thought Greer’s piece interesting in its nuance. Her writing is brilliant, and she hasn’t been defanged like almost every mainstream American columnist has been. Her point about Paki vs Aussie is certainly contentious, but her larger point, about how shows like these are all about bullying, was right on the mark. Unfortunately people are only going to focus on “racism” and miss out on an opportunity to ask themselves why persecution is such a popular sport. Pity, since that’s the impulse behind both racism and politically expedient devices like torture. It’s also relevant to the casual misogyny that attends every instance in which a woman is assertive–justified or not–in public. The elephant in the room is that we somehow enjoy the suffering of others; makes us feel big.

    Hari Kunzru’s brief riposte was toothless and disappointing.

  39. I agree with Desishiksa, it is annoying when people keep picking on Indians on how non-Indian they are just because English may be their primary language. Per wikipedia English is one of 23 official languages of India, so I am not sure what the gripe about Indians speaking in English is.

  40. Although I do not watch many Hindi movies, Shetty is a stunner – and her looks may play as much a part in the bullying as her ethnicity. If she were a plain Jane, the Brits would feel less threatened by her. But it’s been my experience that women turn very catty when an attractive woman enters the picture. So here is an attractive Indian actress, who has had a reasonable degree of success in the world’s largest film industry, while the other women in the house seem rather unremarkable.

    But I am curious – if Shetty appeared on the American version of Big Brother, I do not think she would be subject to the same abuse, at least the racial abuse (her looks would still get her some grief from the other hens). Because Britain was India’s colonial power, Brits have a different relationship with India than Americans – the idea of treating an Indian as an equal may be a bit much.

  41. Desishiksa,

    Can you please expand on your statement “I know many Indians who are NOT members of the “elite” who speak predominantly English, and speak it better than any other Indian language”? And what is your definition of “NOT elite”?

    Thanks.

  42. I think she means people who are not part of the privileged classes as alluded to by some above. If you see the wiki link about English is one of the 23 official languages of India. Also this wiki link puts the number of English speakers in India at about 350 million which is substantial and obviously all 350 million English speakers are not privileged.