Criticising the culture of item numbers in Hindi films, veteran actor Shabana Azmi today said they are used in movies for “titillation”

Shabana Azmi

Criticising the culture of item numbers in Hindi films, veteran actor Shabana Azmi today said they are used in movies for “titillation”. In a panel discussion at the ongoing FICCI Frames, Azmi said item numbers involve a woman surrendering to the male gaze.

“I have strong views on item numbers because they are not part of the narrative and they’ve been put in a film for the only purpose of titillation and nothing else.

“When a girl or a leading lady says ‘it’s alright, I want to celebrate my sensuality’ I have no problem with that. I think that’s wonderful,” she said.

“But under the pretence of ‘celebrating your sensuality’ what you are actually doing is surrendering to the male gaze and objectifying yourselves because the business of cinema is of images,” the actor added.

Azmi said it is problematic when people are shown a woman’s “fragmented bits of her body, ¿heaving bosom, swinging navel, shaking hip”, as it robs her whole autonomy.

Citing the lyrics of Salman Khan-starrer “Dabangg 2”, where Kareena Kapoor Khan danced on “Fevicol Se”, Azmi said mouthing those lines is a cause of concern.

“Please be informed, when you say ‘main tandoori murgi hu, gatka lo mujhe alcohol kay saath’ and a four-year-old girl is dancing on it, you are leading to the sexualisation of children and the parents who are enjoying it, people who are encouraging her are just as responsible.”

Drawing a parallel with Zoya Akhtar’s “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”, the actor said portions of Katrina Kaif in the film, where she wears a bikini, were gracefully shot.

“In the film, Katrina Kaif comes out of the water in a bikini, the camera doesn’t go close to her, doesn’t linger on her bosom or the droplets falling. The camera in mid (frame) sees her coming out of the water, picks up her bathrobe, wears it and you immediately accept that she is an instructor who is coming and doing her job.

“The very same shot, if the director had decided to go over, it would be objectification. So it’s the intention. There’s a difference between sensuality and objectification,” she added.

Also present at the discussion were Vani Tripathi Tikoo, CBFC member, Gayatri Yadav, president and head, Consumer Strategy & Innovation, Star India, Apurva Purohit, president, Jagran Prakashan Ltd and Tavleen Singh, political columnist and author.

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Expressing her admiration for Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, veteran actor and theatre artist Shabana Azmi on Friday said she would have loved to act in all the films Ray made

Shabana Azmi

Expressing her admiration for Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, veteran actor and theatre artist Shabana Azmi on Friday said she would have loved to act in all the films Ray made.

“Every single one of them… Anything he would offer me,” Shabana said at a session on Ray’s film “Shataranj Ke Khiladi” (1977) at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet here.

Shabana, who herself acted in the film based on Munshi Premchand’s short story, said she was overwhelmed to get an offer from Ray at such an early stage of her career.

“I was so overwhelmed that the great Satyajit Ray was offering me anything at all. I put down the phone and picked it back up and put it down again, to actually believe that it was Ray talking to me,” she exclaimed.

“I was very young then. I had just entered the film industry and I must say that I wasn’t even familiar with the story except for the surface because Premchand was somebody so revered that time. So what I concentrated on was the only three days that I worked in the film.”

Talking about Ray’s mastery in cinema, she said the innovative change at the end of the film was so wonderful that it evoked discussions on how much creative freedom can be given to a filmmaker without destroying the essence of a book.

Reminiscent of her first interaction with the prolific filmmaker on the film set, Shabana explained how Ray’s suggestions and thinking fascinated her.

“When I reached the studio on the first day, I was in jeans and T-shirt. Ray shook my hand, said get into your costume, then we will talk.

“I did not have the courage to ask him, why wasn’t he saying anything to me? Then when I got into my costume, I realised that the costume demanded a certain posture with which I sat.

“Then he came into the room and said in those jeans and I don’t think I would have been able to communicate with you about what I want from the character. I thought that was fantastic,” she said.

Though her screen time in the film was less, the actress said she considers herself to be lucky to have made the cut.

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