Look what I found in my GMail this morning!
The Dance of the Kama Sutra
Get this sensual dance fitness video two months before it’s available anywhere else. [Borders]
I hate wincing before I’ve had my morning kappi. When I went to get my normal small-drip-with-egregious-space-for-cream, I sighed and said, “make it a large”. I need all the energy I can get to deal with potential exotification.
Here’s what I discovered about the sensual fitness video which will be released on July 31:
Follow-up to the fun, top-selling Bollywood Dance Workout; Offers a unique workout with sacred sensual moves for your body and soul
Acacia announces the July 31, 2007 DVD release of Dance of the Kama Sutra with Hemalayaa, offering an exciting new program using meditation and playful movements from Indian dance to help women cultivate their sensuality.
The Kama Sutra, an ancient Indian text, promotes the cultivation of sensuality as a sacred duty. The need to cultivate and reconnect with our sensual selves—the goddess at the core of every woman—remains as strong as ever, but the din and rush of modern life make the opportunities all too rare. Through playful movements and heart-centered meditation, yogini and Indian Dance expert Hemalayaa takes you on a journey of discovery. Find the freedom and fullness of expression that come from embracing yourself and your body, just as you are. Join Hemalayaa, creator of The Bollywood Dance Workout, in a dance of love and laughter that instills confidence, joy, and poise. Gesture by gesture, swish by swish, we remember that we are—and have always been—divine dancers. [link]
Swish by swish, even!
The “ick” was at a roiling boil within and I cynically wondered who was behind this project…and yes, it’s true, I did not think it was someone brown. Just who was Hemalayaa?
Hemalayaa teaches yoga and Indian dance in Los Angeles and offers frequent workshops and retreats around the world. The daughter of Indian parents, Hema’s yoga training began at home at an early age, and she went on to study yoga, philosophy, and meditation as well as asana. Hema’s in-depth study and practice of classical Indian dance informs how she teaches yoga. A life devoted to yoga and dance animates Hemalayaa’s playful spirit. Many of her retreats and workshops culminate in a night of dance. Hema loves turning her students on to the vibrant styles of Indian dance, from the classical to the latest moves from Bollywood, bhangra, and Indian MTV. [link]
Oh, snap. She is desi. And I’m uber-fond of people named Hema, too. I felt vaguely ashamed, because I was aware of how I had immediately cut her a bit of slack which I clearly wouldn’t have extended to someone unbrown. I am teh suck. The flawed, biased suck. At least I know it, right?
What now? My exoti-dar was still going off, though it had been significantly muted. Should I be happy that homeslice was doing her thang? Or was it okay to cringe, at the title and over the audience this was intended for, if the demographic I was imagining was accurate? What’s your take?
Somewhere, maybe in the director’s commentary on the DVD, Mira Nair says this very thing. At one point, they had edited out the abuse stuff just to see what the movie would look like. But in the end, they kept it all, and she says she believes the film is stronger for it.
Rahul, I have to disagree.I thought that was pretty much the fulcrum .I especially loved the scene between Naseeruddin Shah and Shefali Shetty when he goes to get her back home for the wedding and he speaks about how she is an integral part of his family.I thought that range pretty true .W/o the child abuse angle where was the tension?
I really liked the child abuse aspect of the story, though, just because it IS so prevalent and it IS so undertold. I do think there are a lot of subplots and characters, but that’s one of the things I like most.. in part because it is messy, but in part because I feel that’s how it feels come vyaa time. I don’t know, I love Monsoon Wedding generally, so I’m probably a bad critic. I think it nails down the spirit of Punjabi communities perfectly.
Camille and Murli,
Regarding exotification…. I think it’s important for us not to read too much negativity into another person’s intentions, more for our own benefit (happiness and heart-softening)rather than theirs.
I have read some of Said’s words in the matter, and although he makes some valid points, I don’t think those points can be applied to something like this lady’s DVD.
A question can be asked, every time a Tam Brahm mother or a Punjabi Khatri father wishes to arrange a marriage for their son/daughter to the opposite gender equivalent of the same, could that not be seen as “exotification” too? — in the sense that there are certain “characteristics” – in terms of habits, condition, culture, behaviour, food preferences and even looks, that those parents think such prospective brides/grooms will fulfill.
Just as one might assume that this lady’s DVD will implant or reinforce an idea in the customers mind about Indian women or India in general…. isn’t that what happens in the mind of Bengali Gour Brahmin mother whenever she thinks of a Bengali Gour Brahmin bou for her putra?
it could have lost the child abuse aspect of the story
I don’t know. I sort of felt the child abuse story was necessary. The other plot lines just didn’t have enough dramatic tension to carry the movie, in my view. I also thought it raised one of those issues that almost never gets talked about in the Indian/Indian diaspora setting.
Louiecypher
Can you elaborate or provide a link? It’s important to me because I have a friend who is in the process of creating something similar for the Indian market and he’d really need to know about this before he spends too much time/energy/money on the idea.
exoticism represents the great catch-22 of identity politics. central to this framework is the denial of a transcendence of knowledge, ie you (the privileged) don’t know what its like to be black, brown, gay, transgendered, etc. a perspectival view of truth becomes central to respecting the viewpoints of the disenfranchised.
but then as soon as the privileged accept this notion, that we are different, that there is this unbridgeable chasm, we whack ’em again with accusations of exoticising and othering. thus, our victim status cannot be taken away under any circumstance.
which is the whole purpose of multiculturalism.
I should’ve been clearer. I felt it had one too many plot points, and the reason I mention the child abuse aspect is that the movie just didn’t treat it with the depth that it deserved, and the resolution was just a little too pat and convenient. I don’t see how the movie could have dealt well with that storyline and still done justice to the rest. (Also, personally, I don’t necessarily need dramatic tension to carry a movie, a perceptive slice-of-life film could be great too.)
muralimannered, yes I loved “OYYYY DUBEY”! The Dubey guy was great as the Sardarji in Company too. There’s a new crop of actors coming out from film school and getting character parts in many Hindi movies, and I hope they are able to continue to get good roles. Khosla Ka Ghosla was one such movie, populated almost entirely by these “unknown faces” (except for Anupam Kher).
I’m with hema and Runa on the child abuse.
My favorite part about Dubey, in addition to the character himself, is the pun within his name. 🙂
PG, I don’t think the scenarios are analogous, and I think there’s a pretty clear definition of “exotification” folks are working with. There is a difference between essentialization and exotification. If someone is trying to find someone they think reflects their identity for their child, it is because they are making sweeping generalizations. If someone exotifies someone (thus, inherently positioning as different, other, not to be included), there is a different dynamic at play. Do both utilize stereotypes? Yes. Are both exotification? Not necessarily.
The reason I cite Said, Kahf and Prashad is because there’s a clear body of literature on representation and identity, and I think it is easier to have a lengthy conversation about why (or why not) exotification is problematic if the conversants are somewhat on the same page re: understanding the underlying factors and theory around the topic itself.
To 106 – ingay paar
And for all you Monsoon wedding fans: The contractor is Vijay Raaz
only if Tamil Brahmin and Punjabi Khatri communities constituted a 1-billion person nation.
exotification is more a glorification of the delight that some feel when they are about to uncover something that was previously unknown, to a certain degree, and can present themselves with a physical/emotional reward rather than simply thinking that an experience will involve some assumed dynamics.
A caste-minded mother, selecting a spouse for their child of the same caste, is more of racist, in terms of perceived culture superiority, than an individual exotifying a brown-themed exercise DVD. Exotification involves less knowledge about the subject than the calculated casteism performed by the casteist mother. The consumer of the exercise dvd has vague images of snake-charmers/dusky concubines/temple sculpture sex positions running through their head–not assumptions based on experience.
Exotification involves blurring the edges of cultural items so that they lose much of what distinguishes them from others in the same general geographic area.
The mother is following through on her casteist upbringing.
Rahul, too many plot points ?! What plot? Inda PK Dubey woos maidservant Alice. Inda amma Pimmi, she smokes in latrine. Then this NRI marries Aditi who is dumped by TV producer after kissing on mouth at night in a minivan because of cop-interrupted. Then our NRI goes to his almamater IIT Delhi canteen and asks for Splenda instead of sugar. Naduvula inda Pimmi oda purushan begs Walmart exporter golf-buddy for cashflow issue. Then andha mota paiyyan wants to cook and get fatter while dad wants him to be like sachin tendulkar. Idu yellam oru plotaa ? If you take out the child abuse angle, whole thing will fall apart. Its just too trivial, like a Lifetime Channel soap. No maal, no masala. imho, Mira’s strength is in creating the right milieu & ambience. Characters are paper-thin, their motivations are silly. Aana onnu, Mira knows how to market. The movie has made roughly 80 TIMES its investment! From a plotless soap if she can milk out 80 times initial, imagine what she can do for a real plot like Shantaram.
There’s nothing much to see here other than commercial motives… and frankly I feel it’s completely justified. The Indian tourism board has always been about the ‘spirituality’ of india .. it is afterall, what sells the most. Just like Africa sells adventure, Amsterdam sells sex and freedom, India sells Spirituality. Period.
[ Remember the tourism board’s message to Jade Goody after her spat at Big Brother – May India ‘heal’ you … etc etc. ]
If as a nation , our tourism board proudly markets ourselves as a spiritual nation, I don’t see why it’s wrong for individuals to market their parent nation (or parts of the culture of the parent nation) the same way. You can twist this story any way – One side will say she’s ‘celebrating her diversity’ .. another side will say she’s ‘reinforcing stereotypes’. I’d say – she’s just a smart damn business woman laughing her way to the bank.
Muralimannered
Murli-
Speak for yourself. Unless you are antar-yami, there is absolutely no way you can tell what is going on in other people’s heads.
I for one only envision a exercise DVD with sitar music in the background and the woman encorporating Khajaraho sculpture style poses into her exercise/dance routine.
but razor sharp. When Naseerudin harangues his son when he’s unloading the car, I had violent flashbacks to similarly humbled, car-unloading events supervised by an uncle.
it’s things like that.
Yeah, I’ll say it: I love BiLB and Monsoon Wedding. I don’t care if that makes me tragically unhip and a lover of cliches, anyone who wants to hate on my love for those two fillums can GFT. 😉
I sometimes think we are more critical of BiLB than we need to be. To me, it’s in the same “feel-good” category as Love Actually, Legally Blonde et al. I don’t hold it to a higher or lesser standard because it’s brown. That said, I love it more than everything I just listed in part because it’s brown and though I might not be Punjabi, I related to a ton of what was depicted…having to lie to go do things which weren’t even that naughty in the first place, not being able to wear certain outfits around my parents, tension with my sister because of drama between me and my parents, loving family even as you’re heartbroken that they don’t understand your most cherished goals…but maybe my over-identification with Jasminder’s plight is a strange and anomalous thing.
As for Monsoon Wedding, the child abuse subplot was very necessary, for the reasons already cited and more: molestation happens far too often and no one wants to admit it, life isn’t neat and simple with just one storyline and nothing else happening alongside it and yes, the scene where the dad stands up for Ria…the surprised and grateful look on Ria’s tear-stained face is etched in my memory, it’s the most poignant moment in the film.
I’ve never seen Water or Bride and Prejudice. I didn’t mind Vanity Fair. 🙂 But maybe, I’m just partial to Reese.
That I agree. And all the things you say about Dubey, Pimmi, Aditi etc – the love interest, Sachin Tendulkar etc. contribute to it. But you can still make an interesting movie that just conveys this milieu and ambience. One thing that really irritates me about movies is when they throw in issues to make themselves look serious or deep, but then do not actually examine them with any seriousness or depth. The child abuse plot was an example of that.
I haven’t read Shantaram yet, the few excerpts made it seem like the prose was too purple and would just irritate me. And why oh why, did she have to put AB in the movie? It might be worth it there is a scene involving him dropping the soap in the shower though.
As for marketing, no doubt about that. Although if you want to talk about a crappy Mira Nair, talk about Kamasutra (see I’m back on topic on this thread too!).
but you are not the exotifying agent. i’m not saying that everyone who sees this is exotifying it but that a typical exotifying agent would probably be imagining some stereotypical ‘Indian’ images like those I listed.
I also didn’t mind it (and am partial to Reese), but I wished it had gone further. That said, I thought it was visually stunning, and I don’t know if there really is a “great” way to adapt an 800+ page Thackaray novel to the silver screen. 🙂
On Monsoon Wedding: I was raised in Delhi, and that movie was absolutely amazing (and precise) at recreating upper-middle-class life in Delhi. I think it also captured the class relationships (Alice and the family, Dubey and his coterie) and the hunger for upward mobility very nicely (although I was ambivalent about the montages).
I personally don’t think brown people should be allowed a free pass for exoticizing their culture. Most of us recognize the now-hackneyed “Indianness-is-not-a-monlithic-identity” claim. So it is problematic if specific individuals start making overt generalizations like the “cultivation of sensuality [is] a sacred duty,” as if it is The Truth. Now that may be a gross simplification or a convenient (if happy-making) mining of Indian scriptures. H’s promotional materials are only an interpretation of the KS, and are not generally accepted cultural absolutes. In general, marketing materials are very heavy-handed about making claims about “India” and “Indian” products.
We all cringe when we see dust-jackets with mangoes and silk. H’s product could be great in helping women to cultivate sensuality but she could be a little more self-reflexive in her marketing. Of course, she has studies Indian dance and yoga for many years and she is absolutely justified in taking advantage of her credentials. Lekin zara sambhalke (trans. but carefully, for all the non-hindi speaking peeps).
btw, Vikram Chandra has this absolutely fantastic, balanced, and funny take on presenting India “authentically” in fiction (at Boston Review). Very highly recommended. It contains one the few oblique reductio ad hitlerums worth forgiving.
119 “One thing that really irritates me about movies is when they throw in issues to make themselves look serious or deep, but then do not actually examine them with any seriousness or depth. The child abuse plot was an example of that.”
Completely agree. But see Mira is caught between rock & hard place. If she examines child abuse seriously, she can’t call it Monsoon Wedding anymore. It’ll become more like her Salaam Bombay, too raw and unpleasant. So she has to gloss over the child abuse, pretending that she cares though she doesn’t really want to allot any more screentime than barely necessary, so she can quickly skip ahead to the wedding rituals and the monsoon. So she does something really manipulative like cutting to Ria’s tear-stained face. I rolled my eyes when I saw that scene. But adhukkum oru audience irukku 🙂
I wouldn’t even compare BiLB to Legally Blonde. Legally Blonde is an example of a feel-good, light hearted movie done well! And unlike getting into to Harvard, that’s hard!
I’d argue that if you want the child molestation plot in Monsoon Wedding because it happens and isn’t talked about (which I’m not disputing), you should be annoyed about it more than I am, because she certainly didn’t give it the treatment it deserved, not by a long shot. My complaint about it is for the same reason, but purely on artistic grounds, the same reason I feel Deepa Mehta’s movies don’t cut it. Although, on the whole, I’d rate Fire and Earth above Mira Nair’s output (haven’t seen Namesake yet).
If I wanted to see a pot-pourri of throw-away scenes and incidents done well, I’d go watch Airplane!.
I for one did like bend it like beckham. Unlike B&P which was a totally trashy, insincere parody of desi cinema format.
Tambram, spot on! You might be right about her dilemma, but I don’t have to like her end product 🙂 portmanteau, I fully agree that Monsoon Wedding did a great job of creating the ambience.
And I’d disagree with you. 🙂 The fact that it wasn’t turned in to a preachy/”the more you know” thing is preferable, IMO. It didn’t club us over the head, it was more delicate and thus, more true-to-life because of it. It rang true for me. The movie was about a wedding, not a horrendous issue which plagues us all. But weddings are always about so much more, right? Hence why it worked for me. At a time when far-flung family members converge and share way too little space, there’s bound to be drama. Ria’s discomfort and shame fit. Her not reacting until she needed to protect someone smaller and vulnerable fit. Her mother’s (?) slapping her and blaming her fit. Her fleeing such invalidation fit.
We’re desi. We’re not going to do the right thing and prosecute the rich uncle or get counseling for the confused little girl. If anything, I thought what the family/dad did in rxn to that horrifying development went above and beyond what would happen IRL. I don’t know many “Uncles” who would stand up for their nieces like that. Sad, but unfortunately for all of us, true.
“It didn’t club us over the head”
But there is a word for what it did do. Its called pandering.
portmanteau,
Does this NW London–Midlands(represent!) confection pass the exotic muster?
Murli, I think what alot of people might think when reading seeing and reading the back of this DVD is that this is something that may help them learn how to express themselves in a more “sensuous” and “feminine” way – and tone up at the same time.
There’s a common (mis???)conception in the West these days that women of ancient times (from a wide variety of cultures/regions, not just India) were alot more empowered sexually, socially and politically than they have been since medieval times till now. It plays into the whole “goddess” thing.
Really I see this as a woman’s issue. Women of today want to feel empowered and sexually powerful. If getting in touch with the past (perhaps a fantasy past that never really existed in the form they think it has), helps them to do that – then good on them.
The whole Mary Magdelene thing as Jesus’ wife and foremost disciple and leader of the Christian movement after he died also plays into that and it gives alot of women hope.
I think the focus on women/Goddess centered spirituality is a good shift who’s time has come.
Yes, and if the drama was getting angry at Gita aunty because she always pesters you to get married, or Raju Uncle because he’s too loud and monopolizes conversations, then the treatment was appropriate.
If delicate = superficial, I agree 🙂
You say “pander”, I say deftly handle. To each their own. For those of us who have survived such situations in our own families, to see it visually presented like that, realistically and when it didn’t even need to be…well, for you to refer to it as “pimping”, it’s a bit distasteful.
Anna, Well said ! Only thing I would diagree with is that there are Uncles out there who would consider their orphaned nieces as their own daughters. TamBram,
That is unfair and you know it .The pandering was in the unnecessary “exotic India” montages .This was not a movie about child abuse – it was a movie about what it means to be family. And having married into a Punjabi family I can tell you it was spot on. I still maintain that Naseer -Shefali scene was a key scene and would have not existed w/o the fact that Shefali had undergone so much trauma
How deeply would she have needed to delve for you to approve? Would it still have been a viable film? 🙂
Look madam, Kashmiri Terrorism does not equal Aravind Swamy singing “My semen drenches your torso” to newlywed bride Roja. Hindumuslim conflict does not equal Hindu Aravind Swamy, muslim Manisha Koirala, random sikh, random christian etc. joining hands singing AR Rahman’s peace hymn. Child abuse does not equal closeups of tearstained faces.
If you want to honestly examine an issue, don’t pander. Devote enough screentime & audience will respect that. Honesty is not preachy. By same token alternative to preachy doesn’t have to be superficiality.
Lets call it a day. Don’t want to be banned because I take a stand on your forum.
With a movie with all the other elements of her film, no. If I’d chosen to make a movie largely like the movie she chose to make, I’d have removed the child abuse subplot completely. Would a movie with the child abuse subplot treated well have been more interesting than my alternative? I don’t know. There are several aspects of the current movie that I thoroughly enjoyed, and clearly all of them couldn’t stay in a movie that actually dealt with the issue. I don’t remember all the details of the movie well enough to give you a better answer, sorry.
No one gets banned for “taking a stand”. Flames, however…
No worries. However, I’m hoping your memory of Maximum City is as good as you’ve hinted at, for when Brown Book Club commences on July 2. 😉
She “hopes”, eh? Let me pan over to my tear-stained face to make you feel bad about wording “hopes” like that 🙂 Don’t worry, I think Maximum City dealt with its subplots in enough detail, sometimes too much detail 🙂
BTW, Suketu Mehta is apparently going to give the Maximum City treatment to New York next.
Shodan
Shodan, maybe this woman was already comfortable in her own body and with her own sexuality.
However, there are alot of women out there who are not, particularly if they come from a certain type of religious background – one that emphasizes and celebrates celibacy alot and de-emphasizes the body and the simple pleasures of life like making unabashed love.
I know alot of such women and I can see how “pole-dancing” could be both liberating and exhilerating for many of them.
Hey, I said that because I want you in that discussion– I want BBC to be a success! You’re hot right now. You’re the BMOSM. All the girls want you, all the guys want to be you… 😉
In Vrindavan UP, there are many hundreds of widows, thousands I think. I first thought they were women who volutarily took up the lives of ascetics so as to attain their spiritual goals, because in my religion, women (very young ones too) will often wear only white and simple clothing and live very simply in order to focus on their spiritual growth. Then I learned more about the history of “widowhood” in India, and realized that alot of these old ladies in my neighborhood may have been forced into their lifestyle rather than have chose it.
Anyway, supposedly there is a documentary about the widows of Vrindavan in the making now (maybe already released). Some Western Vaishnava (devottees of Krishna) musicians have dedicated a CD to them, or wrote a Hip Hop song about their plight. Check that out here http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=144858282 and here http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=144858282&blogID=262917342&MyToken=50d81ea7-51e7-48c6-9371-578c0c4e16e5
Here’s a write up on the documentary…
appearantly some of the locals did not want it to take place, knowing the neighborhood and some of my neighbors, i can imagine a protest of some sort from certain quarters….
http://sify.com/movies/bollywood/fullstory.php?id=13439827
Right now? Hmm… so when do my 15 minutes end? Right before I get sent off to prison for 45 days? And she admits she wants me just for the club. I feel so objectified!
Actually, I plan to reread the book because it’s been a while. Otherwise, I’ll only be able to give it the Mira Nair treatment during class.
Not in the air force version of SM, I hear.
Speaking of “exotification”, here’s an Indian woman who writes about herself;
Check it out……..
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=17540714
Anyways, if you have people like me, BBC will be reduced to the cartoon network. You really need the Camilles, chachajis, and amardeeps of the world for a worthwhile time.
Whaaaaaaaaaat?????
Indian state to ban Crezendo – a vibrating condom, because it is not in keeping with Indian culture.
Watch the news video….. classic!!!
http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/vibrating-condoms-and-indian-culture/
I think, if I had to chose between the two, I’d rather be stereotyped (exotified) as having a healthy (Kama Sutra) sexuality, than this.
PG/Videsi Ghee,
Yes, the link above is what I was referring to. It appears as if your friend’s entrepreneurial aspirations have been shattered. I don’t think the choice is between exotification and rampant stupidity.
Louiecyper
My friend is an Aussie who was raised in an Indo-International Vaishnava community and spent quite a few years in India. He speaks Hindi and Bengali. His religious group emphasized celibacy and so, as a young boy and teenager did the “brahmachari ashram” thing – saffron robes, etc.
In his early twenties he married a female Vaishnava of Jewish-American heritage (grandparents are jews but mother and father converted to Vaishnavism in their youth and she was raised as a Vaishnava also, with all the celibacy issues most Western Vaishnavas seem to be hung up on.
Anyway, the young man now needs to make alot of money coz he has two babies to support and feed.
With his experiences in India and his insight into India’s sexuality issues, he thought of patenting the “Ananda Bindu” for women.
He also wanted to get a team together to travel around India and give seminars to people about healthy and dynamic sexual relationships. His idea was to have one seminar for men only, one for women only and one for couples.
Much of it would be shattering myths and dealing with repression and healthy expression, something he would know alot about having once been a celibate “brahmachari” and now being a sexually active married man.
Do you know if anything like this is already being done?
Videsi Ghee,
I don’t think your friend’s experiences in India qualify him to play Dr. Ruth to desis. Interest in sensuality will grow as middle/lower class women start to become educated, assert themselves economically, and play more of a part in selecting their mates.
I would suggest your friend get involved in tourism development/marketing, maybe organizing yoga retreats etc or managing one of the many guest houses/hotels popping up everywhere. Driving demand for these services will create more jobs for desis and will probably do more to put people in the mood. Putting on seminars is preaching to the converted. Enough on that topic, understandably this is not a venue for sidebar conversations
portmanteau #121: I just finished reading the Vikram Chandra essay you linked to. It is simultaneously eloquent, hilarious, and deliciously brutal – death by a thousand tiny ball peen hammers. Long, but well worth it. Thanks for the pointer!
Preston #101: I meant to acknowledge your comment, but missed it in the frenzied back-and-forth. In an ideal world, I’d watch the movie again so I can give a more detailed description of what annoyed me so much about that subplot, but that’ll probably never happen as there are far too many good movies that I haven’t seen.