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Chapter VII
The Anatomy of Culture, Body and Glamour
Culture always refers to refine intellectual manners of human beings.
Indian culture is unique in its own way which is rich and diverse in comparison
with any culture all over the world. The manners and means of living in India
captivates even foreigners which remains unchanged as it is deep rooted in the
veins and minds of people.

Woman has been given enough space in Indian culture since ancient
times. The place of woman is defined in different dimensions through the
patriarchal society in ancient India that has consistently denied female voice.
Like man, woman is born free, but she is in shackles which subtly and
sometimes invisibly restrict her freedom. Throughout ancient history, women
were compelled to undergo the laws made by men. However, it is also true that
Vedic society gave ample place for woman who enjoyed social status equal to
men, as in the case of Gargi, Maitreyi, Lopamudra, and Ahalya. In the case of
Draupadi, polygamy was not considered as adharma and later stages of the
evolution of Indian history, created a half for them. According to Manusmriti,
the woman is so vital to mans life by assisting him - an adviser in his work, a
slave in service to him, a partner in noble deeds, as earth in tolerance, a mother
in affection, an embodiment of pleasure and beauty in bed and a friend in
enjoyment. But critics say that Manusmriti restricted the freedom of women in
different stages of her life by father, brother, husband and son which make her

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lose identity and become dependent on masculine power. Co-education existed

in the earlier period and the girl had the freedom to select her husband under
certain circumstances. Divorce and remarriage of women were allowed under
special conditions. Vesyas (Dancing girls) were permitted to make a living in
the society, but were regulated by a code of conduct especially made for them.
In the mythological times, women were appeared willing to accept
polygamy in different ways. One of our much venerated mythological women,
Draupadi was married to five Pandava brothers. Another revered mythological
woman, Tara, married the monkey king, Vali, and married his brother, Sugriva
after his death. The Adharvanaveda mentions that a woman can marry after
having ten husbands. In the epic, the Ramayana, Sita was humiliated in the
hands of Ravana; in the Mahabharatha, Shakuntala showed much patience in
order to meet her husband, Dushyanta, and Draupadi was insulted by
Duhsasana, who attempted to undress her in the court of Kauravas. The epics
end with a message to respect women. N.R.Srinivasan in his article, Status of
women in Hindu Society through the Ages says: The ancient traditions of
India have always identified the female of the species with all that is sacred in
nature (1).

Medieval India was deemed to be the Dark Age for women. Medieval
India faced many invasions by foreign conquerors like Muslims, who brought
with them their own culture and customs. Indians either adopted some of their
customs like veiling a womans countenance, etc. or reacted against them for

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the protection of women. As polygamy was a norm for these invaders, they
seized any woman they wanted and kept her in their harems. In order to
protect themselves, Indian women began using Purdah, (a veil), which
affected their freedom covering their body. Some social evils such as Child
Marriage, Sati, Jauhar and restriction on girl education followed during this
period but they were confined to Hindu society. As compared to the Hindu
Society, women in other societies such as Buddhism, Jainism and Christians
enjoyed more freedom and were liberal in their approach. The Bhakti
movements tried to restore womens status and challenged some of the forms
of oppression.

The status of women in modern India is a kind of paradox. On one hand,

she is at the apex of ladder of success; on the other hand she quietly suffers the
violence afflicted on her by her own family members. As compared with past,
women in modern times have achieved a lot, but in reality, they have to still
travel a long way. Women have left the secured domain of their home and are
known in the battle field of life, fully armored with their talent. According to
the census of 2001 in India, there are 933 females per thousand males which is
much below the world average of 990 females. Strongly, female foeticide is an
alarming trend in some communities known for their affluence. Owing to
prevalence of dowry custom, a male child is as an asset whereas a female child
is considered a liability. This sex ratio of India shows that Indian society is still

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prejudiced against the female. But Andreas Huyssen in his article, Mass
Culture as women: Modernisms other (1986) Says:

Even though the French readings of modernisms feminine side have

opened up fascinating questions about gender and sexuality which can
be turned critically against more dominant accounts of modernism, it
seems fairly obvious that the whole theorization of modernist writing as
feminine simply ignores the powerful masculinist openly states its
contempt for women and for the masses and which had Nietzsche as its
most eloquent and influential representative. (4)

Some critics say that women have no separate identity of their own in
the culture of a society because their existence and consciousness are rooted in
an environment created and dominated by man. The entire social ethos is more
masculine than feminine. On occasions, where women are given a lot of
exaggerated reverence, it is often due to mans patronizing attitude to women.
Selden in The Theory of Criticism: From Plato to the Present: A Reader
quotes:

Man can think of himself without women. She cannot think of herself
without man. And she is simply what man decrees She appears
essentially to the male as a sexual being. For him she is sex-absolute
sex, no less. She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and
not he with reference to her; she is incidental, the inessential as opposed

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to the essential. (Quoted from Feminist literature by Manmohan Krishna

Bhatnagar, 128)

Aristotle labels that the female is female by virtue, of certain lack of

qualities. The German Philosopher, Nietzsche asserts that woman is the source
of all folly and unreason and that she is Gods second mistake.

The tale of womans oppression during the colonial context is two

layered in which there is a clash in between the ideas of Modern Indian
Nationalism and Feminism, when the struggle for womens rights began.
Sinead Caslin in an article, Feminism and Post-Colonialism emphasizes:
The undeniable fact that colonial oppression affected men and women in
different ways should be recognized, as females were often subjected to what
has been called a double colonization, whereby they were discriminated
against not only for their position as colonized people but also as women (2).
The social reformers of this period such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Eswar
Chandra Vidyasagar, Mahatma Jyothirao Phule, Swami Dayananda Saraswathi,
Ambedkar, Kandukuri Veeresalingam, etc. helped women gain respectable
status in the society, But it was Mahatma Gandhi, who awakened women to
realize their power by calling them to join the freedom struggle, having an
awareness of the potential power of women in influencing society. The position
of woman was redefined giving enough space to revive her own identity. Anita
Singh in Aesthetics of Indian Feminist Theatre quotes:

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The National Council of women in 1921, and All India Womens

Conference in 1927 and 1930 protested against the feudal forces, which
kept Indian women under subjugation. Sarojini Naidu was in the
forefront of Indian freedom struggle and struggled to redeem Indian
women from the clutches of slavery and superstition in 1920, the power
of vote was first given to women in Cochin and Travencore and in 1921
in Madras Presidency. Many laws were passed after 1947, like the
Hindu Marriage Act and Hindu succession Act of 1956, Dowry
Prohibition Act of 1961, Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of
1971, which gave a wide spectrum of right to Indian women. (2)

The post-independence Indian woman started searching for new

avenues, where she could enjoy much liberty and freedom. After independence,
women benefited from modern education remarkably. Though the girl-child
from village background has not often benefited from elementary education of
a very primitive kind, girls from towns and cities made a mark in education up
to the higher secondary level. Middle-class girls quickly opted for jobs with
SSLC certificates and qualifications in type-writing and shorthand. Women
from middle-class families emerged as employees supporting their parents or
their families in general. Though they did not wield power, they were the
pioneers of womens empowerment and economic emancipation. Urbanization
and globalization have opened new prospects of employment, which are
different from traditional ones. Even though the free India has had elected

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woman Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi for over a decade, the condition of urban
women has improved much rather than average woman.

A woman in modern India is caught into the inescapable cage of

being a woman, wife and mother. She cannot exist outside the boundaries of
married life in the patriarchal society and be considered a Pure or chaste
(whole heartedly devoted to her husband). Sudhir Kakar in his book, Intimate
relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality emphasizes: In the ideals of the
traditional culture, the good woman is a pativrata, subordinating her life to
the husbands welfare and needs in a way demanded of no other women in any
part of the world (66). In case, a woman violates the rules and regulations of
her family, she is blamed to ruin the honour of the family. Female sexuality is
seen not as personal private matter, but a family concern and also sexual
constraints on married girls, control on their sexuality and the obsession with
virginity are still very common in India. Even today in the traditional Hindu
families, women are supposed to take their meals after their husbands, elders
and children have finished eating. It shows that the Indian woman is habituated
to bear the male hegemony for centuries.

The urban women in the post-independence era have been trying for
years to jump over cultural barriers existing in the society of essential reality.
Peter Barry in Beginning Theory asserts that in an earlier age: faith was full
and authority intact (83). The urban woman is creating new terrains to protect
her identify in her own right. In this context, she is expanding her personal

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image interacting with many personalities to uplift and to upgrade her position.
Angela McRobbie in the book, Post modernism And Popular Culture states:
Friendship, equality and difference are all now part of the vocabulary of
relationship alongside love, sex and pleasure (173). Hence, the urban woman
is ready to break the shackles of monogamy, seeking sexual freedom outside of
marriage having a faith in heterosexual love and romance. In Starry Nights, the
protagonist, Aasha Rani indulges in indiscriminate sex with many men outside
of marriage, when she wants to enjoy sexual freedom through which she
challenges men using sex as a weapon. As some men look upon women as
dolls of their pleasures and pursue them with the pitiless determination of
hunters in complex games of exploitation, some urban women like Aasha Rani
is ready to utilize the situation in order to reach the summit of her successful
career. But in this situation, she forgets that she has become the victim to the
cultural shift in the society. Yet, Aasha gains the satisfaction of success with
vengeance at the expense of a certain personal sensitivity. Jyothi Puri in her
book, Woman, Body, Desire in Post-colonial India emphasizes: Being in love,
trusting and feeling comfortable with the male partner, justifies sexual
intercourse prior to marriage. Gradual progression through culturally charged
forms of sexual activity helps these middle and upper-class women to negotiate
prevailing cultural inhibitions and the mandate of chastity (115). She does not
care for the propaganda which, at times, interrogates the purity and existence of
her external self.

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The urban woman in the postmodern society does not hesitate to

maintain extramarital relations in what she feel comfort in satiating their inner
unfulfiled emotions by breaking the restrictions of marriage. Whenever her
illusions are broken that results in the sudden estrangement with her lover,
leads to misery. Michelle Langley in Womens Infidelity, points out:
women whose affairs are ending often experience extreme grief. They may
become deeply depressed and express tremendous anger towards their
husbands. They are typically unaware that they are experiencing chemical
withdrawal due to sudden changes in their brain chemistry (6). Maya in
Second Thoughts is totally dejected when Nikhils mother announces her sons
marriage with another girl and then she feels that the world will become a
vacuum for her. She also feels that she is missing an opportunity to share her
suppressed emotions with her lover boy, Nikhil, which are neglected by her
husband, Ranjan. Mayas illusions about the new man in her life have
somehow filled up the vacuum prevailing in her mind. These illusions make
her blossom like a full moon. Denied the love and satisfaction, she needs and
deserves, Maya falls a prey to exploitation by her young neighbour, Nikhil,
who is quite an opportunist.

One cannot act beyond the deeper layers of cultural reach. But the urban
woman dares to overcome the restrictions imposed by male dominated society
under inevitable circumstances. When there is a discard in marital-relationship
due to the imbecility of husband, the urban woman always tries to create a

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platform for her. In Sultry Days, Nishas mother starts managing a boutique
with a new spirit, when her husband is fascinated towards a Sindhi divorcee
woman from his office. It leads to exhibit the individual talent of woman comes
out, when her identity is not recognized. The Indian woman always tries to bear
the pain with utmost patience so that her male partner exploits her situation,
neglecting her claims as futile demands. Sudhir Kakar in his book, Intimate
relations: Exploring Indian Sexuality asserts:

The imperatives of physical protection, economic support, and the

quieter need for male companionship lead her to establish more or less
permanent liaisons with other men. Such unions and consensual
marriages inevitably force cracks in her inner image of the good women,
faithful to one man not only through this life but in all subsequent ones.
(67)

Maya in Second Thoughts fails to reap the essence of marital bliss by her
husband, Ranjan, as and when, Nikhil exploits her situation having sexual
intercourse in her frail mood. It is the protest against the stereotyped ideal of
domesticity which keeps women as passive objects devoid of sexual
satisfaction. Mayas hyper-sensitive situation makes her excel the domestic
boundaries, as she becomes a psychologically enervated being, passing through
the vicissitudes of her life. In this hapless moment, she fails to surpass her inner
conflict so that she has given a room to be exploited by another man. In this
way, she feels that she has got a triumph over her male counterpart.

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The urban woman today craves for establishing an identity along with
her male counterparts, adopting new prospects where she can visualize her
self-image as full moon. Mikki in Sisters wants to inherit the company after her
fathers demise to enjoy economic freedom and to prove her identity amidst the
dominance of male beaurocrats like Ramanbhai. She wishes to exhibit her
innate talent by handling the business independently, though it is a mammoth
task for her. Esther Motullo in the article, Living in India as a Western
Woman states: Particularly in the drastically modern realms, such as some
districts in the metropolises Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore, she is strongly
demanding for acceptance of her own style and individual taste (1). When she
is marginalized and neglected by men, she loses faith in males and so she seeks
the sexual act with another woman that leads to lesbianism. Jon Binnie in the
book, The Globalization of Sexuality states: Thus the formulation of modern
homosexual ties was the result of industrialization and urbanization, which
enabled men and women attached to the same sex to congregate and form
communities within cities (91).

In order to protest against male chauvinism, women have started

adopting lesbianism, which is a counter to heterosexuality. Bijay Kumar Das in
his article, Gender studies: Gay and Lesbian criticism and Queer Theory
defines: A lesbian is not necessarily a woman who has sex with another
women. A woman could be lesbian if she has lifelong attraction to other
women. Lesbianism is also a matter of choice it is anti-patriarchal choice

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(171). Meenakshi Iyengar (Minx) in Strange Obsession confesses that it is

because of her fathers sexual harassment, she has developed apathy towards
men, which becomes the driving force to become a lesbian. It is true that
psychological disorder in human beings life always leads to the collapse of
their personality resulting in self-realization. The lesbian encounter of Minx
with Amrita is the result of distracted subconscious mind. Amrita feels it a new
domain in cultural mutation. Andrew Cohen in his article, Women, Men, and
the Evolution of Culture points out:

When our maleness or femaleness is no longer animated by

semiconscious convictions and cultural convention, but has become
guided by a very conscious and deliberate intention to involve, it does
indeed become possible to create a new culture-not only between men
and women, but also between men and men, and women and women.(2)

The urban woman now wants to have somewhat unlimited freedom that
paves a way for her to become a woman breaking the existing cultural
boundaries. Elizabeth Wright in her book, Lacan and post feminism declares:
Becoming a woman does not imply an opposition of sex and gender, but is the
way a woman uses her freedom (54). As there is a wide scope for women to
achieve economic freedom having the new vistas of employment in various
fields of Cyber world, it gives rise to embrace the practices persisting in Page-3
culture or Pub Culture. In order to protect her own identity, the woman does

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not hesitate to remain a single parent and get divorced, when the harmony is
shattered in her familial life. Tim woods in Beginning Postmodernism affirms:

Arguably, it has been the feminist theorization of the notion of

resistance in popular culture that has grounded some of the more
abstract debates; and it has been work on the specific consumption of
popular cultural modes or images (like romance or Madonna) that has
led to new a insights about the construction of female identity in popular
culture. (170)

Shobha De in her personal life lost compatibility with her first husband,
Sudhir, when she was in the pursuit of realizing her goals. Hence, she
developed intimacy with Dilip De and married him even though both of them
had children separately. The Bollywood film actress, Neena Gupta refused to
reveal by whom she gave birth to a baby though there was a rumour that it was
by Vivian Richards, a West Indies cricketer. In a way, she asserted her
individuality and freedom in having a child by an anonymous man. From her
viewpoint, the mother can lend identity to a child, and reference to the father is
not really important. She is challenging the patriarchal tradition of lending
fathers surname to the child.

Though the postmodern urban woman claims to attain much autonomy

in the Indian context, the patriarchal society is not ready to accept the
authoritative gestures of womans identity. Hence, though the woman is highly

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educated, she has to discharge the domestic chores like the rural woman.
Bonita Aleaz in his article, Voices, Positions and empowerment: Women in
the Kolkata urban context states: There is no real distinction between the
urban and the rural space so far as the typification or the symbolism
surrounding the woman is concerned (83).

The patriarchal dominance visible in the rural space is carried over into
the urban sphere as well. As Steven La Tulippe in his article Postmodernism
rightly states: In fact, I contend that women are worse off now than they have
ever been in the history of western civilization. Never have they been so
exploited, so abandoned, and never has their sexuality been so abandoned, and
never has their sexuality been so crassly manipulated and commercialized (5).
The status of woman has been altered from time to time. It is evident that the
exploitation of female sex remains for ever as the new cultural practices fail to
dominate the prevailing patterns of culture.

The Oxford English dictionary defines Body as the whole physical

structure of man. It is the union of cells inherent in the structure of bones, flesh
and blood of the human animal. Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1907-61) has defined
that the body is primarily a way of being in the world. It is a form of levied
experience which is fluid and ever-shifting. And it is also a way of interacting
with ones environment, of shaping it and being shaped by it.(88). The
anatomy of body differentiates man and woman by giving different forms to
both of them. Wendy Cealey Harrison and John Hood-Williams in Beyond Sex

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and Gender rightly assert: Clearly, the distinction between the sexes is not the
sole basis on which the autarchy of the body has been established (86).
Ancient civilizations have treated the female body as deities like the Indian
earth goddess, Dharani and the Egyptian earth goddess, Isis.

The female body is conceived as an instrument for artists to portray the

emotions like pleasure in the Middle Ages. Dani Cavallaro in his book, The
Body for Beginners states: The denial of the sexual body reached its peak in
the middle ages. Eroticism was stunted and demonized. Yet many pictures of
the period, in displaying gutted martyrs, bleeding and dismembered sinners
burning in hell, and gory torture chambers, show a deep obsession with the
bodys physicality (39). Since the ages, womens body has been personified as
a machine, which fulfils domestic responsibilities and satisfies carnal pleasures
of her husband. Cavallaro also states: In the later ages, the body of women
has been restricted to home who is enrolled as the angel in the house, as a
helpless child, a nun-like virgin or an involved (40).

The independence struggle in India has churned the fire in the hearts
of women to become lively bodies from the rigid ones. Anitha Singh in her
article, Aesthetics of Indian Feminist Theatre mentions:

Gandhiji acclaimed the concept of Ardhangini, enshrined in Indian

culture, and accepted the fact that men and women are complementary
to each other, and one is never a whole without the other. He accepted

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the Hindu scriptural view which conceived Prakriti and Purusha as one,
man and woman as one in the concept of Ardhanariswara. (1)

The post-colonial India continues to suffer from internal colonialism

since the inception of civilization in giving a concrete form to the female body.
In contemporary times, a hefty change has been seen in perceiving the physical
form of the body which is redefined as a cultural concept. The Body is
generally defined in all its cultural functions as naked, clothed, healthy,
diseased, diminished, muscular, heroic, sacrificial, cannibalistic, dead,
possessed, supernatural, heavenly, geometric bodies. According to ancient
philosophers, the mind is independent and superior to body in relation, though
it is one of the components of the body. Plato (5th century B.C) postulated that
bodies are only second-rate copies of the superior reality and heterosexual
desire is the cause of selfishness and energy. The French philosopher, Rene
Descartes (1596-1650) stated the irrelevance of the physical existence of the
Bodies revealing the idea that the body is a material substance, whereas the
mind is an immaterial one. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) highlighted the
forced repression of the body by the civilization, which led to the denial of
bodily instincts and creativity. Theodor Adorno (1903-69) and Max
Horkheimer (1895-1973) also detested the repression of the bodies that
transformed bodies into commodities. These propositions have paved the way
for the advent of psycho-analysis which changed the traditional ways of
perceiving the body. Aasha Ranis body in Starry Nights is perceived as a

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commodity of sex by various personalities when she wishes to search for a

particular space and identity in the glamour world. The body of Aasha Rani
fails to get immunity not to be attracted by her male counterparts, because she
is a victim of temptation as she is a temptress. She cannot restrict her body
from moving in a direction which leads to lose her identity in the existing
space. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) emphasizes that it is impossible to think
independently of sexuality as humans are sexual bodies right from childhood.
Dani Cavallaro in the book, The Body for Beginners argues:

Freudian thought draws a troubling distinction between men and

women. Men, apparently leave the polymorphous body completely
behind. Their sexual instincts acquire a clear direction and well-defined
aims. Their guiding

purpose is the discharge of sexual products. But

things are different for women. They dont have such a definite purpose,
and gain sexual satisfaction in rather Mysterious ways. (70)

All through the twentieth century, philosophers have claimed that the
body is central to our experience and knowledge of the world. In the portrayal
of womens bodies, writers issue a new paradigm of female protection. The
domain of womens body is perceived as the object of non-verbal expression
by many men.

The more radicalized version of Post modern cyber bodies is created by

Televisual Prosthetics. Some scientists argue that bodily and mental states

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depend upon the environment we dwell. Cyber culture proposed new forms of
embodiment. Norbert wiener (1894-1964) in a book Cybernetics, or Machine
establishes the inter relationship between machines and human bodies. The
ultimate versions of the body are found in Cyberspace connected with
Virtual Reality (phrase coined by Jaron Lanier in 1986). Cyberpunk (first
used by Bruce Bethke in 1983), and Cyborgs (Put forward by Manfred
E.Clynes and Nathan S.Kline in 1960) which describes self-controlling man
machine system. Donna Haraway in Simians, Cyborgs and women: The
Reinvention of Nature (1991) predicted the body as Cyborg, a creature in
post-gender world which combines vulnerability and strength where human
bodies and identities are always partial and contradictory.

In addition to these perceptions, body is identified with the land of a

nation and it is attributed with feminist characteristics. The colonization of the
land is projected as the possession of the body of woman. Anti-colonial
struggles in order to invite large scale participation of the masses have
manufactured the myth of comparing the land of the nation to the body of
woman. Societies try to give the body a correct shape, but the reality is always
frail, flickering and restless. The bodys plurality cannot be restricted to the
oneness of cultural identity.

The twentieth century has given a new dimension to the body of woman
by making it an instrument in order to prosper in the business world. Binny in
Sisters exploits the body of Mikki in the bond of marriage in order to own her

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organization and prosper in the business world, having an identity of business

tycoon. As a result, Mikkis body loses its vigour which makes her undergo
subjugation. Though she has her own bodily instincts, the female gratification
buttons confine her body in occupying enough space. Modern opportunities
have created more of a room for women in all spheres of life. Hence, most
women today focus on their physical self rather than the emotional and
glamour selves to market their body as a visual commodity. For instance, the
advertisements for soaps like Lux in India have conceived the womens body
as a medium in promoting their business.

The Indian female celebrities are continually objectified as photographs,

which glorify them icons of the contemporary world. But those beautiful
women have no true freedom; their bodies are owned by commercial agencies
in the society as commodities. Freedom without freedom of a person as a body
is unthinkable. Susan Bordo in his book, The male body: a new look in public
and in private rightly points out: The management and enhancement of the
body is a gold mine for consumerism, and one whose treasures are
inexhaustible, as women know (220). The perception of the female body by
the males gives an ample scope for women to market her as consumable
product in this global market. Susan Bordo also claims: Its only
commonsense to expect that the bodies of movie stars and models would begin
to function as norms of male perception as well as female. These images alter

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our very notions not merely of whats beautiful but also of whats normal in
a female body (283).

In Strange obsession, the female body of Amrita functions according to

the love-making of a lesbian, Meenakshi Iyengar, though Amrita is reluctant to
maintain relationship with her. It shows that womens body responds not only
to the stimulation of opposite sex but also of the same sex. Amritas body
gradually derives pleasure in the company of Minx, which makes her bloom
like an intoxicated flower. At the workplace in this corporate world, women
face problems with some men, who view their bodies as somewhat sexually
accessible. Today, women give prior identity to their bodies which becomes a
stimulant to the male gaze that result in humiliation of the female body. As
John Berger suggests:

Womens bodies are cultural objects not only to men but also to
themselves. Mediated through the gaze of the culture, women learn to
gaze at themselves, according to Berger, men watch women and women
watch themselves be watched. Especially for these middle class women,
experiences of sexual aggression heighten not only the significance of
the body but also their self - consciousness of embodiment. (Quoted
from women, Body, Desire in post-colonial India, 77)

The anatomy of the female body itself is a limitation to the movement of

women freely in the society. As body regulates the women in every movement,

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Maya in Second Thought is conscious of the limitations of society in

controlling her emotions, but in vain, she has lost control over herself so that
she starts flirting with her neighbour boy, Nikhil. The bodily pleasures of Maya
which are totally unattended and neglected by her husband, Ranjan, encourage
her to submit her body to Nikhil, with whom she has got sexual delectation.
Through this, her body becomes an archetype of consumable bodies in
postmodernism. In The second sex, Simon de Beauvoir explains that man:
thinks of his body as a direct and normal connection with the world, which he
believes he approaches objectively, whereas he regards the body of women as a
hindrance, a prison, weighed down by everything peculiar to it (Quoted from
The male body, Susan Bordo, 19). Most of the women today are victims of
commoditization. Womens body is an object in the hands of media people
with what they create sensation among the spectators by exploiting contours of
the body of women. When the nude video clippings of Bollywood film actress,
Bipasa Basu appeared on You Tube, Shobha De in her article, Bravo Bips
which appeared in De Blogspot groans: Oh no not another sleazy sting or
outing? (1). Shobha De has half-expected that Bipasa might burst into words,
criticizing the people responsible for intruding her private life. But Bipasha
Basu has honestly confirmed that they have been shot in 1999 while she was in
New York having had no experience to figure out camera angles. This instance
reveals how modern women are bold enough, even though their bodies are
deployed as commodities in the media market. In a cover story, Celebrity
Times Sagarika Ghose, Archana Jahagirdar and Payal Kapadia quote the

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opinion of Shovana Narayan who complains: The press is concentrating on

social lives rather than the work people are doing (5).

In this cyber world, the sexual exploitation of female body is very

much evident. Jyothi Puri in her book, Woman, Body, Desire in Post-colonial
India emphasizes: Sex enables the mechanisms of power upon the body that
make it impossible to view a body outside of the limitations of sex and to
engender the compliance and consent of the individual to expectations of
normal sexual and gender development (7). Men feel that they have got
victory over women when they participate in sexual intercourse. But women
feel that they have lost identity when they are involved in sex. It is because of
chemical reaction occurring in between both the bodies and the supremacy of
phallic body of males, women undergo subjugation losing identity for their
body. Linda LeMoncheck in Loose women, lecherous men: A feminist
philosophy of sex rightly reveals: A womens desire to submerge her identity
in such relationships desire to submerge her identity in such relationships
makes promiscuity unthinkable, since a women has only one identity to offer
(44).

Nisha in Sultry Days loses her identity when she is involved in sex with
her lover, Deb, so that she wishes to continue her friendship with him though
he does not deserve her adoration. She loses her psychological identity in
admiration. Nisha is an independent woman having self-dignity that makes her
revolt against the underworld politicians. Usually, Man takes initiative in sex,

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and Woman is responsive. However, the facts about the physical relationship
depend upon their psychological intimacy and psychology. It is observed that
even though man pays attention in having sexual intercourse, ironically woman
loses her identity in intoxicated romance.

Glamour is mostly attributed to attraction. It gives an identity to human

beings, for both men and women who clamour the attention of others. In
particular, the society has concentrated on the glamour of women since ancient
times. Women are a sublime spectacle to be adored. In an edited extract from
Glamour, with the title, Glamour and feminism: a marriage made in heaven
of hell? Carol Dyhouse asserts:

Exploring the role of glamour in history shows that it has often served to
express a sense of aspiration and entitlement for women as well as a
dream of escapes a sense of aspiration and entitlement for women as
well as a dream of escape from hardship and the everyday. Glamorous
women have often expressed an attitude of self-possession and
assertiveness in conformity with them. Glamour has often been
perceived as transgressive. (2)

In the glamour world, men and women enjoy separate identity defining
their particular space, which leads to attain a platform for successful display of
talent and an image of themselves. In this patriarchal world order, the woman
always tries to compete with her male counterpart by picturing herself as a

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potent artist which makes her merge in the main stream. It is quite evident that
the presentation of male characters showed much domination because the
parents in the first quarter of twentieth century did not allow their daughters
enter the glamour industry in India. Only a few women dared to jump over the
barriers to make their self identified by others in the society. The Indian film
industry in the earlier times invited women to play the roles of female
goddesses and queens. Devika Rani, Naseema Bano, Shobha Samarth,
Noorjehan, Khursheed and Suraiya strived hard to find a little space in their
own way. It helped in shaping the Indian cinema. Though these women have
carved a niche for themselves in filmdom, they are under the shade of male
macho by enacting certain roles, which have been submissive to men.
Debashree Mukhargee in her article, Good girls, Bad girls claims: A study
of stardom unmasks the forces that create the illusion of glamour and deity, but
it is the added prism of gender performativity that enables us to unpack
possibilities for subversion within a discourse of female stardom (5). The
postcolonial Indian actresses fail to balance the private self and the public
image.

In Starry Nights, the heroine Aasha Rani fails to balance her private
affair with Akshay Arora in accordance with the public image, which she has
had acquired through the years. Hence, her identity is degraded in filmdom and
her career is in peril. Here, the individual talent of Aasha Rani as an artist is
recognized partly because she imparts to enjoy the materialistic pleasures of

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society. The boundaries around her public space become obstacles in order to
liberate from the existing norms of contemporary society. In a way, she is in fix
where she gradually loses original platform. Debashree Mukhargee in her
article, Good girls, Bad girls also asserts:

Within the specific historical moment of late colonialism, female film

professionals, especially actors with their hyper-visual work, complicate
the easy business of home and world. In fact, the very boundaries
between the public and private get ruptured in the case of film actors;
intimate details circulate in a dispersed domain and the public screen
persons impact daily living. (6)

But women in the glittering world have become successful in exhibiting

their emotions as female protagonists with utmost artistic talent. On some
occasions, she can be seen dominating men getting much popularity than men
artists.

In the later years, the status of woman in the glamour world is on the
decline as she is assigned restricted roles, which projects her as an object of
display. Lopa Bhattacharya in the article, The changing face of women in
Indian cinema emphasizes:

The 70s, 80s and 90s witnessed a severe decadence in the portrayal of
the heroine in mainstream Indian cinema. It was then that the female
protagonist was reduced to a heroine, connoting the image of mere

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glamour dolls, dancing around trees with heroes and performing cabaret
numbers. This way, she was projected as a show-piece or in other words,
as a feel-good touch to the film, rather than a flesh-and-blood human
being in her own right. (1)

Breaking this sort of masochistic shackles, there is a chance for women

to achieve women-centric roles which have explored the female psyche to
some extent. These types of roles give an opportunity to explore the problems
of women on the screen.

The globalization and liberalization have given an opportunity for the

middle and upper class women of urban India to experience a virtual revolution
in commercial beauty products and beauty culture like modeling and modeling.
The emergence of satellite television has redefined the place of woman by
demanding male spectators attract towards lurid images of women. Shohini
Ghosh in her article, Queer Pleasures for Queer people asserts: A significant
development of the 1990s mediascape was the arrival of both real and
representational women. There was a marked increase in womens participation
in the newly emerging media industries. Both film and television saw a
proliferation of women as central protagonists (210). When the glamour of
woman is perceived as a consumer product in various ways, she is in the fore
front in order to challenge the male hegemony in these fields. It also makes
women to compete not only with another woman but also with her male

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counterpart, by interrogating the career options of men. Susan Runkle in the

article, The Beauty Obsession points out:

Although young women have, for better or worse, been largely defined
and measured by their beauty for centuries, the decade-old media
explosion in India has meant that more and more young women are
interested in the glamour industry as a viable career option. This interest,
combined with the very lucrative rewards such as changing norms for
female behavior, has meant incredibly tough competition among
women. (7)

At times, an unhealthy competition among women may lead to violent

activities. In Strange Obsession, Meenakshi Iyengar (Minx), the lesbian friend
of Amrita has mutilated the beauty of a model, Lola by sprinkling acid upon
her face when she has started stealing the opportunities of Amrita. The
spectacle of woman in the view of many men is conceived as a desired object.
The women stars like Amrita in the modelling world today are likely to be
flexible in pursuing their career. At times, they should be ready to compete
with their female counterparts, who have courage to involve in any sort of
encounter like lesbianism intentionally or by force, because the career becomes
intoxication for them. In this drama, they become objects of rumour in the
glittering world. Pramod K.Nayar in his book, Seeing Stars asserts: The
female star is the object longed for, the subject of fantasies and the perfect
body that the man desires (61).

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The delineation of woman in movies today is questioning the men in

possessing the urban space as it is claimed to be male domain. Lopa
Bhattacharya affirms: Today the depiction of female protagonist has been ever
more challenging in context of her sexual identity. The seed of this quest was
first sown by the dynamic Aparna Sen in the 80s with Paroma, where the
women tread the path of so-called Promiscuity only to gain psychological
maturity in the long run (3). Though the urban woman has got success in
reducing the domination of man in the glamour world; she has been still
ill-treated and demoralized in various ways. Kankana Basu in the article, Its a
Womans World emphasizes:

The recent spate of movies shows women at the top once again, rubbing
shoulders with the leading man in terms of popularity and demand. She
has been given the secondary importance in portraying the roles and in
paying the remuneration in spite of her diligence equal to male counter
parts. She is restricted to display only her half-naked body becoming a
show piece who is meant for singing and dancing. (6)

Recently, woman has acquired strength in challenging her male

counterpart to occupy considerable space in the Bollywood. Moumita
Bhattacharjee in her article, Women in Indian Movies asserts: Though the
Indian film industry has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of story and
technology, the womens league seems to be in the same place it previously
was (2). It is said that in order to get opportunities, many women have to

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undergo sexual harassment in indoors, while the shooting is on. They are being
cheated culturally by losing the purity and virginity in the hands of beastly
men. Ambitious women in the glamour world are totally misunderstood and
they are facing sexual assaults.

In Starry Nights, Aasha Rani is seen very much ambitious about her
career. Therefore, people in the glamour world start exploiting her situation by
labelling her as sex freak. Unfortunately, heroines like Aasha Rani in Starry
Nights have to face sexual assaults as they are supposed to be objects of display
in the movie world. Many women are psychologically shattered while entering
the filmdom, in particular, at the inception of their career. But Aasha Rani has
unscrupulous encounters with many people incidentally and accidentally in
order to become celebrity in the Bollywood. Pavalamani Pragasam points out
in the article, Beauty about the flaunting of womens glamour as: She is
degraded to the level of a commercial product put on exhibition. Marketers
flock her to make best use of her glamour to sell off their products and fill their
pockets. It is sheer exploitation. The beautiful woman succumbs to this
attracted by the fame and financial gains (1).

It is quite difficult to answer whether beauty is a curse or blessing for

women. People take it granted in many dimensions. Most often women also are
mistaken about the real definition of glamour. Bipasa Basu, the Bollywood
actress in her article, Man and Woman cant Completely Understand Each
Other expresses her opinion as: Glamour does not mean skin show and I am

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tired of saying this. I hear some idiotic women saying that their role is so
glamorous (1). Though the dark skin is not considered a synonym for glamour
on par with the general opinion of the public, the dark-skinned are also
challenging the fair women in the glamour world. Kanquona in the article
Marriage, society, Indian women comments:

Naomi Campbell, now a super-model, won the Miss Universe crown

and is a very successful woman in the world of glamour. Some dusky
beauties of Bollywood are Rekha, Hema Malini, and Kajol, who are
reining the Indian film industry. So their dark skin color has failed to
prohibit them to relish the nectar of success and fame. (1)

Though Amrita in Strange Obsession is a dark-skinned girl, she

becomes successful by grabbing many opportunities in the modelling world.
Her dusky personality is not a barrier in relishing the beautiful career. In the
case of Amrita, her dark complexion does not give any convenience to reach
the apex of her career. She proves herself as a model with her artistic talent.
Naturally, the Bollywood film industry has introduced faces in both
complexions, without any colour discrimination.

The beauty of woman is considered a curse for her as it creates jealousy,

envy and hatred among her colleagues and also in the minds of men, who
desire to possess her. In order to gain positions at the work place, the beautiful
women utilize their glamour as a catalyst in appeasing their bosses. At times, it

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makes others to treat her like an enemy. In Strange Obsession, when the
modelling world starts recognizing the beautiful complexion and artistic talent
of a model, Lola, faces an acid attack on her face. It is because of her glamour
which reveals the existential problems of females in the glamour world. The
survival tactics adopted by the beautiful woman may not become added
strength for them when the dusky woman like Amrita is on the forefront to
catch opportunities with her own talent. Here the lesbian affair between Amrita
and Minx causes to demoralise Lola, a model by attacking her. Susan Runkle in
the article, The beauty obsession quoted the comments of Miss world 1994,
Aishwarya Rai, from Meri Saheli magazine, who states: mere Khubsoorati
mere sabse bade dushaman hein (my beauty is my greatest enemy) (4). It is
also evident that anchors, air hostess and receptionists feel that their glamour
becomes an obstruction to enjoy their private life. The postmodern woman is
trying to posses the public space in the urban areas as she thinks that she is able
to defend herself in a society which has conditioned her not to enjoy more
freedom. The male hegemony confines her in the traditional cage, where her
self-respect is unidentified. But since the ages, the beauty of woman has
disturbed families, societies and kingdoms. Pavalamani Pragasam in Beauty
mentions:

The beauty of Cleopatra changed the fate of Roman empire, killing so

many heroes. The beauty of Sita incited Ravana to abduct her, leading to
his downfall, however great his worth and achievements were. The

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beauty of Helen of Troy was the cause for all the trouble filled
adventures narrated in Homer, Iliad and Odyssey. In view of these facts
it is very doubtful whether extra ordinary beauty is a bane or blessing to
a woman and those around her. (1)

It is observed that women with their beauty can overpower the robust
sphere of man. Though she has concern and affection towards men, she is
ready to protest against male chauvinism in order to maintain her self-respect.
The new woman in the glamour world has been somehow successful in
defining and occupying her desired space in contemporary times.