I’ve never seen a movie starring Shilpa Shetty. I’ve never watched Big Brother. I had no idea until this post on SepiaMutiny that Shilpa Shetty would be on Big Brother. Frankly, I didn’t read it because I didn’t care.
So why, in in the name of all that is sacred, have so many of my conversations in the past few days involved the unholy combination of a mediocre Bollywood actress and a revolting reality show?
Sajit recently tackled the growing controversy surrounding the show, so please refer to his post if you need to catch up. That’s were it began for me.
Then Mr. Cicatrix and I randomly channel-surfed our way to a ABC Nightline News segment on the how Shilpa’s quiet dignity was “Uniting India’s Warring Muslims and Hindus.” So sixty years after Partition, THIS is what finally unites?!
The House of Commons has weighed in. Tony Blair. The British Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Indian Parliament has lodged a formal complaint with the British government. All this over remarks variously described as “girly rivalry,” “bullying,” and “racist abuse.” (link) Remarks made by people so stupid, one thought “Winston Churchill was the first black president of America.” (link)
The talking heads pontificated and culture critics scibbled op-eds. Is it jealousy? Class conflict? Bigotry? Ignorance? (link). Insecurity? Stupidity? (link). A set-up by the show’s creators? (link). Shilpa’s own fault? (Yep. Germaine Greer said it).
The semiotics of racism, of “poppadoms,” “can’t even speak English,” “Shilpa Fuckawallah” and “live in a house or a shack,” have been tossed about selectively and dissected to the point that it’s all just meaningless chatter.
So it was a relief and a surprise to read Martin Jacques’ article in the Guardian (thanks ultrabrown). Jacques, a Fellow at the Asia Research Center at the London School of Economics, roots around the muck to find a very solid reason for why this show is more than a tempest in a teapot, why it resonates so violently in Britain and abroad:
The test of our behaviour, of how racist we are, is no longer what the white British think. That started to change with the self-awareness and growing confidence of our own ethnic minorities. But the matter does not end there. The test now, in this instance, is what Indians in India think, how they perceive us.
As Goody raged and railed against Shetty on Wednesday night’s TV broadcast, she was like a cornered animal, lashing out in every direction against something she clearly detested but also feared and felt threatened by. She was confronted not only with the Other, but a hugely self-confident Other. What could be worse? It was a metaphor for the world that is now rapidly taking shape before our very eyes. (link )
I think he nails it. To go back to that “poppadom” business:
Racism always exists cheek by jowl with, inside and alongside culture and class. As a rule it is inseparable from them. That is why, for example, food, language and names assume such importance in racial prejudice. And that has certainly been the case in Big Brother. Food is a signifier of difference: so are names, so is language. So Jade and her sidekicks homed in on Shilpa’s cooking and choice of food, made fun of her name and refused to learn it. And with food came the suggestion that Shilpa’s hygiene left something to be desired, that she was unclean (she had touched the food, it was claimed, and “you don’t know where her hands have been”). In other words, not only was she different, but she came from an inferior civilisation.
Th world is changing:
Almost from the outset, Big Brother’s racism has had a new and novel dimension. Because Gordon Brown was in India at the time, and was asked about it during his trip, the issue immediately acquired an international dimension. In an earlier era, of course, this would have been dismissed as of no consequence: the natives could safely be ignored. But no longer. We saw this just a year ago in relation to the Danish cartoons and their ridicule of Islam. Europe used to ignore what the former colonial world felt. There was no feedback loop.
I’ve been waiting for this for a long time – the dawning awareness that the “third world” is no longer silent or passive. The realization that “the Other” can speak for itself, quite well, thank you. The acknowledgement that we are here, we are watching you, and we will not be ignored.
Please read the full article here. You might disagree, but it’ll be worth it.
UPDATE: The BBC (thanks Ennis!) reports that the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone said he was “delighted” that Jade Goody was voted off the show with 82% of the vote.
“You can imagine the uproar there would have been in this country if, say, Keira Knightley had been being abused in a Big Brother house in India.”
He added that India is the second biggest investor to London after the US and that without last night’s protest vote, there “would have been a lot of harm to people’s jobs”.
This further underscores the point made in the Guardian article:
India is a rising giant; we can no longer afford to ignore, as we once did with impunity, the views and feelings of a country that represents one-fifth of humanity.
This is HUGE. The economic factor appears to be the decisive one, but Indian investment wouldn’t be a concern if there hadn’t been an outcry in India about the ethnic slurs. Get on board, people! This isn’t really about parsing the racism of “the Indian” or whether Shilpa irritated you personally. It’s about how casually people in the third world, “foreigners,” were dismissed and ignored. It’s about how that is finally, maybe, changing.
This is where I disagree. I would say that plenty of folks the world over experience this through more insidious and consistent incidents of hatred (pick your “-ism,” someone somewhere has got a bullseye on his/her back for that identity).
Well, that’s just my idea, that all things being equal, communities have the resilency to create alternative forms of resisting such pressures. maybe not individually, but as communities. Only when things totally break down and the institutions of a society are broken up does the level of pressure get to a point that creates generational scars. which I think did happen during the eras of colonialism and slavery
You are very kind.
Cicatrix, all I am saying is that we shouldn’t blow things out of proportion, and to look at things in their context. Fight racism and prejudice where it lies – George Allen comes to mind. But we also need a sense of balance. And in my view, things got out of proportion, when suddenly Big Brother became a litmus test on British race relations, and the Indian government stepped in very upset and started making pompous statements. I said that the Indian government is hypocrite for that reason, not Indians who got upset.
I respect and understand your opinion. I just think that Big Brother is a fabrication of reality, and I don’t see Shilpa is a victim. Did you know the police questioned Jade when she was evicted?
The truth is that Brits who care about the show are embarrassed that they come out as ignorant, and I am not just talking about how the girls treated Shilpa. In fact, I would say that we, as Indians, came pretty well with a beautiful and inteligent woman on our side, as opposed to Jade, Danielle on the other side.
In my view, you ask a very interesting question. How are Indians perceived now compared to 20 years ago? Our disagreement is that I don’t think Big Brother is the right place to look for an answer, specially now that it became politicised.
You make the assumption that these women understood that they were incredibly ignorant in the first place.
Can you explain to me what do you gain by provoking? My point about being ambassadors to the West is to be a reliable source of our culture to our western couterparts. For those who are of good-faith, of course.
Sahej, granted that colonialism was bad in many ways…but do you really think there was a complete breakdown or the institutions of society (for most desis) crumbled? I think that for a lot of people, it barely made a difference who was in charge, nor did ‘Gora’ attitudes affect them much – the majority of Indians, even during the height of the Raj, might not have ever seen an Englishman (I’m guessing). I think the racism endured by 2nd/3rd gen desis in the UK was probably a LOT more harmful to their psyche than whatever the British inflicted (psychologically) in India itself.
As a mutineer who grew up in Britain in the dark days of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s this incident has brought back memories. It is my contention that most of the English just don’t get how racist they are. Its a cultural thing that comes from generations of being Top Nation and a sense of entitlement that is pervasive regardless of the level of education or lack thereof. It’s not a matter of being Indian. The Welsh, Scots and especially the Irish suffered just as much as us, not to mention the French etc etc. One obvious difference is that as a group, Indians are more visible and wear their cultural differences more stridently. This is not meant as an excuse for what happened, just an insight into where its coming from. I have been talking about this with my dear, trusted and true English friends and while they are appalled at the racism they saw in this incident, they are unable to accept that this is an organic part of who they are. Societally the English see themselves as open, accepting, liberal and socially just, compared to say, this side of the pond. They feel that as enough is done by society as whole, less of the same is expected of them as individuals, thereby freeing them to express themselves with impunity.
Britain debates the real issues thrown up by Big Brother:
Shilpa’s boobies – Awesome anybody know if they’re au naturelle?
I’m just hypothesizing that a lot of racism can be withstood if the institutions of a society are intact. Institutions means to me the state institutions, the education system, the media, all that. To the extend UK Asians knew they were coming to a “hostile” society in the 70’s and 80’s, that seems slightly different to me, then to think that your institutions, that are supposed to represent you, are in essense working against your national interest. To me that signals a breakdown in the basic view that as a community you have the right and ability to look after your own affairs.
kurma – yes thats the one. People everywhere have been commenting on how much “classier” than the British women Shilpa Shetty is. And when class itself gets mentioned, it’s always in terms of the class envy and class hatred of the lower class British women too. What has been forgotten or ignored is Ms Shetty’s own prejudices, and they have been very evident. In the first week it was widely commented on that she would be among the first to leave the house because of her own behaviour. She has made many comments about the others accents and lack of education and “manners”, about the way they dress and talk. Private conversations between Shetty and Jermaine Jackson have referred to the British women as “white trash”; Jermaine commented “you can’t mix class with no class”; and time and time again the two have talked about the women as being beneath them. None of this means that Shetty deserves to be shouted at exactly, it certainly doesnt warrant racist abuse. But I do think that the class issue has been the primary problem here.
Shilpa Shetty has also persistently talked about her entourage and her servants, told the housemates that usually when she enters a room people stand up, and been reduced to tears after even the most mild confrontation, claiming that back home noone would dare talk to her that way.
Of course nothing Shilpa has done should entice racial abuse. But I’m not surprised at the anger towards her. When a lower class British person who has lived in poverty for much of her life is told that she needs to “get an education”; “learn manners”; and “learn to speak English properly” by a woman who has always lived in luxury, I don’t think we can be surprised that tempers flare. And that is exactly what happened with the above quote. Shetty mocked Goodys language, and told her she needed to learn manners, and more, and the response was: “You’re a liar and a fake. You’re a liar. You’re not in Neverland here, you’re not no princess here you’re normal. You are normal. You are normal Shilpa and learn to live with it.
It’s part of the big argument on youtube if you want to see it. What I havent found is much youtube of the persistent derogaory comments made by both Shetty and Jackson towards the British women, but it happened, has been happening since they entered the house.
It’s all very well discussing this in terms of racism, and that’s a subject we shouldn’t ignore, but neither should we ignore the wealthy taunting the lack of educational and upbringing privilege of the lower class.
The British seem to be far more racist towards desis, most of whom are from Pakistani Punjab or Indian Punjab, than they are towards people of african ancestry, most of whom I think are from the Caribbean region. Desis in the UK are the least assimilated by far of all ethnicities as measured by intermarriage rates with the white natives. The percentage of black Caribbeans who have white partners is much higher than for desis. Jade Goody herself is a product of a white brit-black Caribbean marriage. Her father was half jamaican. And she enjoys white-skin privilege and acceptance which a supposed “one-third persian” punjabi (as some posters here keep boasting about) can only dream of. Interestingly desi Caribbeans, who are not of punjabi ethnicity, are also far more assimilated (based on intermarriage rates again) than are the pakistanis, indians and bangladeshis. But their proportion of the total desi population in the UK is miniscule.
Why is that so? Does the religion of UK desis (heavily muslim and sikh) play the most important role in their inability to assimilate?
Monty Panesar
Desis in the UK are the least assimilated by far of all ethnicities as measured by intermarriage rates with the white natives.
How do you know its not just the opposite – that desis (including the families, who exert pressure on children) don’t want to marry whites? As for other means of assimilation, by many metrics desis (ex muslims ) appear to be doing very well in England.
Speak for yourself, mate 🙂 Some of us feel the fear and do it anyway…mwahahahahaa
Intermarriage can be good for particular couples concerned, but certainly need not be promoted DELIBERATELY as social policy…what’s wrong if UK desis wish to marry within their ethnicity? And who said complete assimilation is necessarily a good thing (or even the goal)? I’m proud that the UK born generations of desis (most notably Punjabi Sikhs) have retained (while adapting and modifying) so many elements of their culture into their daily lives. And as Sahej mentioned in another post, this cultural retention (and adaptation to new uses) was a source of identity and strength. I think the story with UK born desi Muslims is not so rosy, in terms of the poisoning of minds with religious hate and propoganda, and preoccupation with issues in foreign countries which have nothing to do with them (other than having Muslim populations).
Accompanied by a general disregard for inherited folk songs, folk music, instruments, etc. and other aspects of their culture which are non-religious in nature, but which are actually the most ‘desi’ aspects of their heritage (as opposed to Arabic in origin).
I find the behaviour of Jade unacceptable and certainly support the action taken by the show. But I want to focus on the fact that the British are probably one of the most tolerant and accepting people in the world. I admire the fact that they are able to examine themselves like this. That they make the effort to be fair and treat all races the same. I just wish that people in Pakistan and India were like that. Most of the desis I know are much bigger racists than my white friends. There seems to be a implicit notion that somehow white people owe it to the world to be tolerant but the rest of us don’t have to. I hope that someday people in Pakistan and India will be able to reach this level. of tolerance.
Cicatrix, this is such a gratifying post and thread! Germaine Greer’s article was bitchy. Even if this is in large part a chick thing, Mizz Greer sure is demonstrating her own racial sympathies and must be happy setting aside the fact that she owes her entire career to Sonny Mehta. Strange that she didn’t consider Jackie, who was on meds, potentially and in fact dangerous in that situation, never mind “irritating”…
Did you mean because racism is so much more subtle in the US?
http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/20/stories/2007012005121300.htm
This is unbelievable! Shame on the Tourist Board! Worse is my sneaking suspicion that it’s meant as wisdom.
Clueless, those are not countries, those are former provinces of the Roman Empire, and their size reflects the technology and travel times of that era.
I had thought maybe she’s Shefali Shetty’s sister or something and this is why she has the same profile…
Doordarshan, black people are the most intermarried minority in Britain, but they also have poverty, crime, male school underachievment figures, which are less encouraging in comparison to the ‘less intermarried’ Indian community, and despite being so intermarried with mainstream society, black people also suffer alienation, demonisation, racism and higher than average mental health problems in their male population. If anything, high levels of intermarriage show that it does not make all things rosy in your garden of itself.
The whole premise of your assertion about the ‘inability to assimilate’ is wrong. Plus, there are more Hindus than Sikhs in Britain, so your understanding of ‘the religion of UK desis’ is also flawed.
And reading your post again, it is so bloated with partial knowledge loosely slapped on loaded rhetorical assumptions, that I have to say, revise yourself.
Jade Goody is a woman with serious psycological problems, I just cannot understand how Indians can get worked up about her. Racism in Britain exists, as in any society, the Indian society included. Hindus in Britain generally do very well, their average salary is above average. If you want to look at western racism, UK, USA and the rest of the anglosaxxon countries are the wrong direction too look at, try continental Europe instead, Germany, Scandinavia or France. And while at it, why not look at our own Indian racism as well.
Muslim desis, who are the majority of british desis, aren’t too far behind. You are confusing educational and economic success with assimilation. By that definition lower class white brits must also be unassimilated, which is absurd. The chinese in Indonesia are far more successful than the natives, but are they assimilated?
Hindu, muslim and sikh desis stand visibly apart from native brits by their color and race, their names, their religions, their culture, their self-identification with the subcontinent etc, even after two or more generations. Thats not assimilation. OTOH, Carribean blacks heavily intermarry with whites and those who do are racially and culturally assimilated within a few generations . Just look at Jade Goody for example, she is 1/4 black carribean. Or look at the christian anglo-indians: how many brits even know or care that Engelbert Humperdinck and Cliff Richards are part-desi?
You claim to have read my post more than once, so show us where I wrote that there are more sikhs than hindus in the UK? Its your reading comprehension that is flawed. I wrote that the majority of desis in the UK are punjabis, muslims from Pakistan and Sikhs from India. Right or wrong?
Fact is, hindu desis are a minority of the UK desi population. And sikh desis are heavily disproportionate compared to their proportion of the Indian population. Muslims, mainly from Pakistan and Bangladesh, are the majority of british desis. How do you think they are faring?
Thanks for the answer, noon. Wow, what can I say? How one can understand that to mean “India is a slum” is kinda hard to understand. I thought it took the Republican spin machine or something to spin something so well.
Yeah, I saw the weeping session with Germaine Jackson. And there was that other funny time she mistook “you have class” and went “That’s right. I’m a big actor back home and …” and Germaine quickly tried to fix the situation with “it wouldn’t matter even if you were a truck driver, you’re classy”. Hahaha. Unfortunately, the clips have been removed from youtube now.
Kurma – Jackson and Shetty have spent an awful lot of time picking apart the manners and language and behaviour of the lower class women. But many of the youtube videos showing that have been taken off for ‘breaking youtube guidelines’. This user http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=frentique&page=9 has put up loads of BB videos, mostly breakdowns of each day from two of the programs covering it all, Big Mouth and Little Brother. If you look at his/her videos in date order, go back about fifteen or so pages, you can follow things as they happened, in small bytes anyway..
Just fyi, Jackson spells Jermaine with as “J”, and Greer spells Germaine with a “G”. I don’t know if the difference in spelling is American/Australian or male/female.
I find it interesting the way Shilpa Shetty is being portrayed as a naive innocent girl bullied by the others. I don’t think it’s real, and in fact I believe that the idea that she is a ‘helpless exotic’ that needs rescuing from the White Knight media seems, well, racist to me. Looking at Shetty honestly it’s hard to see her as helpless – she’s extremely well educated, well brought up, used to working in a hard and competitive environment, a competent martial artist, coventionally beautiful, and apparently worshipped. Compared to her ‘tormentors’ she has uncounted advantages, and I do not believe that her Indian origin makes those void at all.
In my opinion the British media, on the whole, do not actually understand racism as a system of oppression. They are trying to portray Shetty as a victim by virtue of her Indian heritage, but I think this ignores her position in her own society, as well as her position amongst the housemates. People keep referring to her as a minority, but she has not been brought up as a minority, far from that, she has been brought up as a wealthy and privileged member of Indian society. Other systems of oppression exist as well, and these have been totally ignored. Shetty does have class privilege over the British women – she is more educated, much more ‘refined’, classier. Some of these women are minority groups themselves – for example, Jackiey Budden is disabled (has one completely paralysed arm), has mental difficulties, is an ex heroin addict, is a lesbian, and has been partnered with black and mixed race men during periods when racism was much more intense in the UK, especially towards mixed race couples. Jade Goody has grown up with Budden (and all her problems) as her mother, she is mixed race herself, her parents were both heroin addicts throughout her childhood, her father spent much of it in prison, she was caring for her mother when she was a child and missed a lot of school because of it. I’m sure you could find out more through googling for their biographys.
My point is, that although I acknowledge white supremacy, I think it’s insane to think of Shetty as a ‘helpless exotic’. That is how I think the media see her, and that is in itself racist, of course it is, it’s a complete denial of her entire humanity and the intricacies of who she is, instead defining her completely by her race. She is more than capable of standing up for herself, and on the social scale, she is far, far above the white/mixed race British women, regardless of her Indian heritage. People who want to see her as the downtrodden victim of racism are being very simplistic, and I don’t think they really understand what racism is.
Here is Shilpa Shetty’s introduction video for Big Brother, just in case anyone is interested to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQfhGeTXTDE
also, I found this article today and it’s very interesting: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1998054,00.html
“Anti-racism has to go beyond a facile representation game” by Priyamvada Gopal
Siddhartha,
Nice of you to say so bro, although I don’t have much more to add apart from standing by my previous comments. On the whole, I tend to support Kush and Cicatrix’s views on the matter, including their comments here during my absence in the past week.
I am familiar with “Cisco” from Pickled Politics, although he goes by a different username there.
Kush,
Ha, I wish 😉 She’s actually now become a bit of a sex symbol here in Britain, thanks to CBB and her various Cineblitz-style photoshoots that the major British newspapers have got hold of during the past few weeks.
That’s very kind of you. Yours are great too and I support your stance. As you can imagine, I’m not impressed by some of the usual convoluted over-intellectualising that’s occured amongst some of the commenting population here in order to rationalise their lack of empathy towards Shilpa, especially the inappropriate, self-flagellating “tu quoque”-type arguments. The former in particular is now a recurring theme on this blog, as I’ve observed before. Yet more evidence that Indians are frequently their own worst enemies. Anyone who wants to understand exactly how and why several foreign groups have defeated and controlled the Indian population during the past millennium should take a look at this type of behaviour. All too depressingly familiar.
To put this into context, the previous most-complained-about British programme was Jerry Springer: The Opera, which resulted in 9000 complaints to Ofcom. CBB’s handling of the Shilpa Shetty issue has now received over 47,300 complaints to Ofcom. Combined with the number of official complaints to Channel 4, the total is now over 60,000. The staggering number should give an indication of the uproar in the UK about all this, and it’s not even remotely just British Indians who are protesting.
Events during the past week:
The reality of the situation hit Jade shortly after her exit from the house when she became aware of the scale of animosity towards her, along with the worldwide coverage of the issue.
She’s now on a damage-limitation exercise, which will quite possibly fail as it’s fairly transparent to most people here. Whether her tears are actually due to genuine remorse or just embarassment/humiliation is also a matter of opinion.
Jo was evicted yesterday and, at least during the initial interview immediately afterwards when the show’s host gave her a quick summary of the furore outside, she appeared to show no remorse for her actions or sympathy towards Shilpa. This may change as she becomes aware of the scale of public support for Shilpa and animosity towards her (more speculation by me).
Danielle heard the chants of “Get Jo out” from the crowd outside during the live eviction and broke down in tears as a result after Jo left the house. I’m not sure if this was due to concerns about Jo’s wellbeing or (perhaps more likely, based on her previous remarks) fears about what is the state of play concerning her in the “real world”.
Danielle is likely to be the first to get evicted from the house during the live final tomorrow, and she’ll have to face the music then. Apart from everything else (public vitriol, lost contracts etc), her soccer-star boyfriend is not only not going to have a wedding proposal ready for her (which is what she apparently expects), he’s also waiting to throw her out of the mansion which she’s been sharing with him.
Jade has now turned on Danielle and has publicly accused her of being the worst racist of all of them, and the behind-the-scenes cause of much of the turmoil regarding Shilpa.
Shilpa is the betting-favourite to win tommorow and is predicted to not only become the first Bollywood star to really crossover into the West, but also earn millions as a result of movie & television offers, modelling contracts and book deals which are now flooding in her direction (currently entirely unbeknownst to her, of course).
Cicatrix,
Yet more brilliant comments by you too during the past week. Shahbaash.
Jai,
Shilpa is being naughty on CBB recently in last few days.
You should try to get a date. Maybe, Jazz Barton or Mummyji (Shilpa’s mummy) can help.
I think she has lined up another 5+ year career in UK and India, if mummyji does not muck it up.
I have been following CBB regularly through youtube and Guardian articles mostly.
And, Jade Goody should stop “bawling” and pay attention to her sons.
I think the biggest two face in this episode is Danielle Llyod.
I am also glad an “acted out, farce in a cabin fever environment” has brought some hidden demons, and much more glad that Britishers have responded very positively, and actively engaged themselves, even though it was “reality TV“. In some ways, her strong stance on proper pronunciation of her name on CBB does good to millions of girls of South Asian diaspora, and her confident (or even sometimes diva-like) self to millions of quiet South Asians all over.
Kush,
I’m glad you (and several others) have been holding the fort here during my absence. It’s both disheartening and very irritating to see some pseudointellectual, emotionally-autistic commenters here trying to excuse their own spinelessness and apathy. And don’t even get me started on the “blame the victim” remarks. It’s disgusting how some people will try to excuse (or justify) English people treating Indians like dirt, at least if it involves an Indian actress (not quite sure why that is — Shilpa Shetty doesn’t exactly have a reputation for being a jerk). Desi masochism at its finest.
A couple of points in response to some remarks by others on this thread during the past week:
Shilpa and Jermaine only started discussing issues of class and upbringing in response to the venom that was being directed at Shilpa (inexplicably, from her perspective), and even then it was only after a huge amount of protracted provocation. It’s not like they secretly sat down and immediately starting criticising Jade & Co as soon as they met them, motivated by some kind of snobbery on their part.
Shilpa was not going around boasting about her lifestyle, regarding the number of servants she has etc. Several of her housemates were specifically asking her about what her life is like back in India — where she lives, what kind of house she has, and so on — so she was just responding to those queries. This is especially pertinent when one bears in mind that Jade’s mother in particular was asking her stupid (or perhaps deliberately disingenuous) questions such as whether Shilpa “lives in a shack”.
Regarding the comments made on this thread about her tormentors alleged “lack of privilege”: Jade has become a multimillionare during the past 5 years. Danielle has earned large amounts from modelling assignments and has been living a millionaire lifestyle with her probably-soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend. Jo is from a now-defunct British pop group which was very successful. So regardless of their original backgrounds, these people aren’t exactly sheltered, poverty-stricken members of some kind of underclass who were randomly picked off the street. They’ve had plenty of time and opportunity to compensate for their supposed prior lack of privilege.
Anyway, on a more light-hearted note…..
I know, she’s been indulging in a bit of flirty-flirty with Dirk Benedict. He’s actually very good at it — quite smooth and charming, and very funny too. I found it amusing that, while someone like Henry Winkler is nothing like The Fonz in real life, Dirk really does talk and act just like Starbuck & Face ! He even smokes those cigars all the time !
I find him to be a really good guy. Same with Jermaine Jackson, who is incredibly calming and perceptive — Michael, Janet etc are extremely lucky to have him as an older brother, the guy’s like a rock and in some aspects the ideal “bada bhai”. Someone on (I think) The Times blog recently described him as being so serene that he’s “more deity than man”, which made me smile 😉
I did think they should have both intervened more directly and much more forcefully when Shilpa was being harrassed, though. Not too impressed with their reticence there.
Hmmm, Akshay Kumar is quite a tough act to follow 😉 Even Dirk ji got gently shot down. Not that I would turn down a chance with superleggy superluxuriant-haired supermodel-type Shilpa, of course……
There have been lots of good articles on the online version of The Times, Daily Mail, Daily Express, News of The World etc too. Google around. It’s interesting that even some of the more notoriously right-wing newspapers have been condemning what Shilpa was subjected to and identified it as blatant racism (the same has occured in mainstream British news channels right across the board) — which of course also undermines the claims of some commenters on SM that it wasn’t motivated by such bigotry, “Indians are too sensitive etc etc”. The latter is even more misguided when you remember that Jade herself has now openly stated that Shilpa’s harrassment by herself and her cohorts was indeed racially-motivated. Those obnoxious witches knew exactly what they were doing.
Absolutely. What makes it even worse (and more tragic) was that Shilpa acted as her main source of support and comfort after Jo was evicted. The reality is that Danielle is terrified that she’s going to get the same negative reaction from the public as Jo did; unfortunately, Shilpa doesn’t (yet) know what Danielle has been saying behind her back in order to be so afraid now.
The reaction to Danielle when she leaves the house is going to be very bad indeed — even worse than she currently suspects.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens tonight — there’s a two-hour final from 8pm onwards, British time. Hopefully you’ll be able to catch it on the live feed from CBB’s website. Stay tuned.
Jai Singh you’ve built my expections of you so high now with your excellent ongoing reporting that I now expect a full summary of what will happen tonite with YouTube references. Thank you 😉
Shilpa is laughing — she is going to come out of this a major international star. No exagerration but the British public have taken her to their heart because of the way she stood up to the bullies with dignity and she’s being compared to Audrey Hepburn for her elegance and style. There has been some major introspection after the whole Jade Goody affair and people seemed to feel genuine shame at her treatment. And you know what’s been good is to watch a Bollywood actress up close for so long and she is the opposite of a diva, down to Earth, funny, humble, extremely cool, the kind of person you would want as a friend. They had this task in which they had to make Big Brother laugh and she made them laugh by pretending to be ‘Aunty Jamila from Southall’, a psycho aunty who forces everyone to eat bananas, it was funny because it was so stupid, like a deranged character from Goodness Gracious Me.
Just watching Big Brother’s Little Brother now and apparently Johnny Depp wants her to star in Shantaram with him. She will get catapulted to the top of the Bollywood A List now too, alongside Rani Mukherjee and all those other actresses, because she will be able to singlehandedly open a movie in the UK now on her name alone, so much has she become a household name here.
I mean, she really has become the first Bollywood crossover star. Any film she stars in whether British, American or Indian will get instant publicity and audience. Stick her in something like Omkaara, a really decent production, and you’ll have genuine Bollywood cross-over hits in the UK.
You know that was the most heartwarming thing for me. She really just came across as someone grounded, normal, sweet and smart, all things I would have assumed she wasn’t. My cousin in London tells me that the entire family along with half of Hounslow is planning on going to greet her when she does come out of the house. Cute.
Live update !! Danielle and Jack evicted. Danielle greeted with boos.
Jai, great to hear from you. I’ve been following this whole thing very closely on youtube and google, and it would be great if you could keep the updates coming, especially in terms of the reactions these people face when they leave the house, and in the aftermath of that. I saw Jo’s post-eviction interview on youtube, she just doesn’t get it…I hope her career takes a permanent nosedive. Danielle deserves even worse…the only thing is she’s too stupid to even process any of this…I really think that none of it is going to penetrate her thick skull. Cleo impressed me with her wit and charm, and she’s not bad-looking for her age. Sad to see her leave the house. Davina is nice-looking too. You know who really should fry? Jade’s mother…possible mental illness notwithstanding, she needs to be punished (by social ostracism and public ridicule) for her comments and actions.
Live update #2. Ian out. Danielle was more apologetic about her behaviour. She neatly summarised by admitting “I feel like a bitch”
Live Update #3. Dirk out. Its just Shilpa and Jermaine.
Ok. Shilpa is the winner !!!
(Do I need to get a life??)
SHILPA WON!
Waiting for Shilpa’s ‘I have a dream’ speech.
the stunning ms.rai is the first and so far only bollywood crossover star
So Shilpa Shetty has become the the most famous Bollywood star of all time. She must be congratulating herself for the bold decision to go on this show.
Now we can expect to see more desis being casted on reality shows in british and american TV, and more bollywood stars, especially Shilpa, in british and american movies.
Hopefully you’ll be able to catch it on the live feed from CBB’s website. Stay tuned.
Thanks, Jai. Those are very high quality feeds. Manju, you are a smart man (wrt to being with Bushite and with Shilpa comment). You knew the answers blow’in the wind.
Go Shilpa, Go Shilpa
i concur..i almost choked when she declared (on the introduction of shilpa to big brother youtube thing) that she called herself the indian angelina jolie… oh no miss shetty.. jolie is far hawter than you… and as for being a huge crossover star… um.. i wouldn’t bet beans on that one..
The stunning ms.rai is about to be left in the shade by Shilpa Shetty. Trust me, the media is going wild over her. She will open films on her name alone and be the best chance of Bollywood having a true crossover hit. Shilpa has put herself in the Bollywood A list, she’ll get film roles in the West because of this as well. People are enchanted by Shilpa. Gave a lovely interview, and she really is a cool, classy, elegant and dignified lady. Film roles, TV, endorsments, she deserves them all.
Very true, she was indeed quite full of herself in the beginning, and even today there was booing from a section of the crowd but she completely floored everyone with her final interview and thats what everybody is going to be talking about tomorrow.
She came off as insecure in the intro video, which isn’t surprising since she never made it big in Bollywood. But pressure shows the real person, no? And when the tension in the house was at its worst, there was an undeniable grace and simplicity about her. Hopefully she now feels she can show this side of her, and not drone on about how ‘glam’ she is.
Shilpa and Jermaine only started discussing issues of class and upbringing in response to the venom that was being directed at Shilpa (inexplicably, from her perspective), and even then it was only after a huge amount of protracted provocation. It’s not like they secretly sat down and immediately starting criticising Jade & Co as soon as they met them, motivated by some kind of snobbery on their part.
Actually, they did. Their faces when Jade and her mother entered the houses were a telling picture. One newspaper printed the photo of Shilpa’s facial reaction to their entry under a headline that went along the lines of “Mummy Help! They’ve sent in the working clarse!”. And within hours of their entry Jackson and Shetty sneaked to the bathroom and discussed how ‘awful’ the family was, even saying they might be forced to leave rather than live with such people.
– Shilpa was not going around boasting about her lifestyle, regarding the number of servants she has etc. Several of her housemates were specifically asking her about what her life is like back in India — where she lives, what kind of house she has, and so on — so she was just responding to those queries. This is especially pertinent when one bears in mind that Jade’s mother in particular was asking her stupid (or perhaps deliberately disingenuous) questions such as whether Shilpa “lives in a shack”.
As Shilpa Shetty stated in her introduction video, she went in to the house intendeding to “showcase” Bollywood, and as she stated herself in the diary room, she was hoping to “educate” the others about India. Which is all well and good, but it also meant she spent an enormous amount of time “educating” the others about herself and her lifestyle. Coupled with her very imperious attitude of course it was going to look like boasting.
She did often make derogatory comments to both Danielle and Jade Goody about their behaviour not being “ladylike”, and their English being “terrible” (as compared to hers of course). Something to note there is that she several times commented that the two couldn’t speak English properly, which is pretty offensive in my opinion. They speak perfectly good regional versions of English, but were talked down to and disrespected because they did not speak the more posh version that Shilpa uses. She also commented regularly on their “manners”. All of that seems a bit like boasting to me, because much money has been put into Shilpas learning of Proper English and Etiquette, and she judged and berated others on their lack of that training.
– Regarding the comments made on this thread about her tormentors alleged “lack of privilege”: Jade has become a multimillionare during the past 5 years. Danielle has earned large amounts from modelling assignments and has been living a millionaire lifestyle with her probably-soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend. Jo is from a now-defunct British pop group which was very successful. So regardless of their original backgrounds, these people aren’t exactly sheltered, poverty-stricken members of some kind of underclass who were randomly picked off the street. They’ve had plenty of time and opportunity to compensate for their supposed prior lack of privilege.
I think this is an incredibly short sighted and classist comment. First – a few years of money does not erase a history of abuse, neglect, and poverty. Second – it seems to be a suggestion that as soon as a poor person comes into money, their first priority should be in “bettering” themselves to meet the standards of the upper classes.
Jade’s first priority was to provide for her family, which she has. She has also, in that time, given birth to two children, and they are her current priority. And in any case, poor people who come into money are not required to develop the habits and the mannerisms of the upper classes in order to justify their place in the world.
Jo O Meara also comes from a difficult background and is not and has never been a millionaire, although she is relatively well off (compared to her childhood) and was briefly in a famous pop group.
I am feeling very ill atm and cant get my thoughts together completely on this but I resent the attitude that Jade should be working on “bettering” herself. It’s exactly that sort of prejudice that annoyed me about Shilpa Shettys constant snipes on regional English etc.
This isn’t racism, this is jealousy over beauty. I am Indian and look exactly like Shilpa, other Indian girls scream at me the way Jade screamed at her. Fat ugly women don’t like other women who are prettier and skinnier than them, and they go into jealous tirades over it. It happens thousands of times every day. Any beautiful woman that has lived with an unattractive, obese female has dealt it multiple times. You simply cannot stop the hatred and anger from other women if you’re pretty.
Phwwwwaaaorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr lol @ Ana !
You may be a fox but your bark is as bad as your bite. This is you: i is so pwetty this one time in band camp dum dee dum this guy told me i look like shilpa yay! Yah man I’ll just wait for your comeback telling me I’m jealous