Fat is fat, Bollywood ladies you are not voluptuous

I remember watching an interview of actor Ayushmann Khurrana a few months back where he talked about the aspiring actors back in his hometown Chandigarh coming up to him for advice every time he visited home. What he found most interesting was the preparation those guys were doing to be an actor in mainstream Bollywood. “Sir, I go to the gym everyday” was the most common response claimed Ayushmann much to the delight and dismay of the interviewer. Look at any of the current crop of heroes in the film industry and you’d see six-pack abs staring at you even from a distance. When a megastar like Shah Rukh Khan decides to whip himself up in ab-tastic shape even when he’s touching 50, you know the pressure on our leading men is bigger than ever before. As I write this piece on International Men’s Day, a couple of thoughts come to my mind. First, it is great to have men sweat it out in the gym as long as they can match it up with acting chops to boot. And second, why have the women been allowed to take it easy?

The Hindi film industry was never about physical attributes in the beginning - heroes and heroines were like regular people and bothered more about acting chops than physical fitness. But then entered Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt with their rippling muscles and Shilpa Shetty and Urmila Matondkar with tiny waistlines and hourglass bodies redefining how our screen idols should look. While since then the men have only gone fitter, it seems the women are now starting to take it easier. Deepika Padukone may be flaunting her abs and Katrina Kaif might be training like there’s no tomorrow, but many of our hot-and-happening girls aren’t setting fitness standards anymore for sure. Sonakshi Sinha, Huma Qureshi, Sonam Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra are girls who can’t be called fit. Even Kareena Kapoor is no longer her famed size zero. And let me not even get started on Vidya Balan!  

Preempting the backlash I’m almost certain to get from womankind, let me state clearly that I am all for curvaceous women. Having always admired Zeenat Aman for her fabulous body, I see no wrong in woman being fuller and voluptuous. But what separates actual curvaceous women from those hiding under the garb of self-anointed voluptuousness?

Sonakshi Sinha recently appeared on a TV show to talk about India’s obsession with "thin" women and basically take on all the people making fun of her weight. The debate was on thin not being fit and how women shouldn’t be pressurised to lose weight. Vidya Balan has always gone to town claiming how men prefer fuller women over size zero ones and has found ample support from Huma Qureshi and Parineeti Chopra. Point well noted girls but who decides what an actually curvaceous body is? Do flabby arms, disproportionate frames and no muscle tone whatsoever constitute curvaceous but fit women? I don't think so.

Objectification of women has been a huge topic of debate and controversy and rightfully so. There is definitely a lot more to women than just their dress size. But if cinema is a visual medium, why should just the men have to live up to the fantasy? When you’re in a profession closely watched and followed by everyone, your pedestal comes with a certain amount of responsibility. An I-don’t-care-attitude isn’t a healthy one for these actresses simply because they have millions of young girls looking upto them. Yes, take pride in your natural form. Yes, don’t resort to extreme measures to lose weight. Yes, don’t kill yourself crash dieting. But since when has not exercising become cool?

I started this piece talking about young men hitting the gym with a vengeance in hopes of becoming matinee idols. A big reason for that is simply because a modern day hero, one who is fantasised about, is expected to be attractive looking and physically fit. If not, let’s have Shah Rukh Khan try and work his charm on women with a paunch the next time and we’ll see what women have to say about that.