2 May 2007

Ash Abhishek and the unbearable set of expectations from Amitabh Bachchan

In a well-argued column Mrinal Pande has presented a case that the way the marriage of the decade has been conducted sets a wrong example for our country.

This argument now being articulated many magazines, newspapers and sites goes as follows: That Amitabh being a national icon, son of famed poet etc. should not be doing such things. People look up to him and therefore if he were to encourage behaviour like getting Ash married to a tree this will only reinforce retrograde rituals within society.

I have had my fun during the whole time. A couple of times I howled with laughter too. However two points need to be made to all the media commentators and intellectuals etc.

One is that Amitabh never claimed that he was a progressive person. All his actions have pointed to him being a conservative patriarch living in the 19th century. Including naming his grand daughter Navya Naveli (Please!!!!) .

His daughter had an arranged love marriage (depends on which version you believe) and his wife stopped working when she married. (You could argue it was her decision but if every act can be argued out then we could also defend slavery). And the countless trips to temples donating money & other things to please gods (127 and counting till 2006). Why are the critics surprised now?

The other point is that what Amitabh is doing is not new. People have been doing this for centuries and he is not setting a new trend. We all know of an aunt or a cousin who had to marry a tree or visit 51,000 temples to overcome some dosha.

What the media should have done is criticized all their activities staring from the first temple they visited in November 2006. They should taken a stand then.

What I’m worried is how come no one is criticizing the wedding outfits that the family was wearing. Who in his right mind would wear that? Is that a curtain cloth or did his table cover get mixed up with his suits ? Of course come wedding season in November a lot of aunties and uncles will order them for their families. I guess that’s one thing I would like to haul Mr. Bachchan to the Court of God for. That is, if He exists. (God not Mr. Bachchan)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi, funny bit about the suits!!
Savita

Pankaj said...

poor mrinal pande. has the unenviable job of trying to drill some sense into these rotting, egoheads.

all srk has to do is TRY to not smoke on screen. a few thousand dumb, impressionable kids might not end up with lung cancer at his age.

all BigBear alpha-male-gotta-show-my-wealth-and-status-to-pack-to-maitain-dominance-like-primitive-ape-ancestors Bachchan has to do is atleast not announce his 19th century manglik wedding shenanigans if he cant arrange a simple 100$ civil sign-in ceremony. a few thousand tortured parents will breathe a bit easier.

but no. too much ask from these no-talent f!@#$ups. (err...pardon the french).

yet while every country has a healthy smattering of nitwits, some are worse off than others. ***cough***leaderofthefreeworld***cough***

ms.pande. i live in the US. stick to the lord-god bachchan. you have it easy.

- IHOII